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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27297436">Fire and Blood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnybean/pseuds/ginnybean'>ginnybean</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Echo as Ashe, F/M, Light Angst, Magic, This Goes Off The Book Ages More Than The Show, hocus pocus au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:21:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,659</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27297436</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnybean/pseuds/ginnybean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellamy Blake never had time for things such as local legends. People always put too much stock into them. At least ancient legends or even fairytales held morals and warnings. The witch trials that had gripped New England were nothing but hysteria, or maybe bad bread. Of course just because you don't believe in something doesn't make it not true. The Blake siblings are in for a very long night.</p>
<p>A The 100 AU inspired by Hocus Pocus</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Bryan/Nathan Miller</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Octavia came bouncing down the short steps as soon as he pulled up. She must have waited by the window. He didn’t mind, he never liked talking to her great aunt.</p>
<p>“Big brother!” She opened the door but didn’t get in.</p>
<p>“You a vampire now? Do you need an invitation?”</p>
<p>“Bell! That’s only for houses. And I am obviously a witch.” She gestured to her black pointed hat. “How do I look?”</p>
<p>“Fine.”</p>
<p>“Bell, you didn’t even look.”</p>
<p>He signed but took in her outfit. He wasn’t sure what to say. A poncho adorned with moons and suns covered the top of the black dress. It looked like she had sewed on the spiders along the skirt of the dress herself. She did look witchy. He was also glad she had the sense to wear tights, even if they were painfully orange.</p>
<p>“You look witchy.”</p>
<p>She beamed at him and climbed into the old truck. He felt a little bad about being so dismissive before. While he never cared about Halloween, she did. It was also her first Halloween party so he supposed she was nervous. He was a little too but for totally different reasons. He remembered how awful some of the girls had been at their old school. More than once he had been called into the principal's office for protecting his sister. While she hadn’t ever called him crying since she had moved here three years ago he still worried. He didn’t think he would ever be able to turn it off. Especially since he wanted to make sure he had enough money to take care of Octavia if something happened to her aunt. He hadn’t been able to do anything before but he now that he was of age he wanted to make sure she didn’t go to the state again.</p>
<p>Octavia chatted on, not noticing her brother’s troubled state.</p>
<p>Bellamy turned onto what was locally called Colony Row. Almost all the old families who settled the town lived here. He pulled up to the large white house. Both he and Octavia stare at it for a moment before looking at each other.</p>
<p>“How do people end up live like this?” she asked.</p>
<p>“By being rich and white.” Bellamy kept the bitterness out of his voice, he didn’t want to ruin his sister’s night. When he glanced over at her. She looked nervous. “You okay?”</p>
<p>“Yeah…it’s just…”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?”</p>
<p>“Well, Charlotte is really nice and we share a lot of classes, but she invited all the girls from homeroom. What if she was just being polite? What if I was supposed to know that and not show up? What if she doesn’t want me here?”</p>
<p>“Hey, hey O.” Bellamy reached over to take her hand. She quickly laced her fingers with his. “It will be okay. You said she was nice. I’m sure she wants you to come. If not you can call me and I will come get you. Do you remember the number I gave you?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Good, call it anytime.”</p>
<p>“Okay…” She still didn’t move.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to rush her but he did have to get to work soon. “Do you want me to go with you? I can pretend I wanted to check the place you are staying before I let you stay. I can play the overprotective big brother.”</p>
<p>Octavia snorted, “Play?”</p>
<p>He ignored the jab. “Is that a yes or a no?”</p>
<p>“Yes, you can come but don’t do anything embarrassing.”</p>
<p>“No promises.” He got out of the car.</p>
<p>“Bell!” She hissed as she hurried out of the car. He kept his stride short so she could catch up with him.</p>
<p>He entered the house and tried not to gape as they passed through the vestibule. The front hall seemed to be almost half the size of the last apartment they had before their mother had died. A large candy bowl was left unattended and Bellamy was tempted to grab something. He hadn’t brought anything to eat on his shift. A candy bar would be better than nothing especially if it had some sort of nuts in it.</p>
<p>“Hello,” He turned to the voice that came from the stairs. His voice died in his throat. Halfway down the stairs was the most stunning pirate he had ever seen. She wasn’t even wearing the sexy version of the costume. Her leggings her tucked into her boots and a long waistcoat was half-buttoned over her billowing white shirt. The costume left a lot to the imagination which Bellamy thought might be the best part. The bandana she wore did little to tame her long wavy hair that fell past her shoulders. It was the same golden hair he had admired more than once at his job one city over.</p>
<p>“Hi, I’m Octavia. This numb-nut is my brother Bellamy.”</p>
<p>“O!” He snapped out of stupor. “Language!”</p>
<p>“While you had swallowed your tongue so someone had to answer her.” </p>
<p>“That’s still no reason to be rude. Anyways, we’ve met before.”</p>
<p>“I’m Clarke, Charlotte’s older sister.”</p>
<p>“Wait!” She turned to her brother. “Is she Museum Clarke?”</p>
<p>“O!” hissed Bellamy again, he glanced back at the woman who was now at the base of the stairs. He hoped the lower lighting and his own tanned skin hid his blush. Her grin made him sure it didn't.</p>
<p>“You talk about me?”</p>
<p>“Oh, all the time. He goes on about-“ She got cut off when Bellamy wrapped his arm around her shoulders before clamping his hand over her mouth.</p>
<p>“You don’t want to keep your friends-Hey! Octavia, that’s gross!” He pulled away his hand when she licked it.</p>
<p>Clarke had her lips pressed together trying not to laugh. “Octavia, some of the other girls are already here if you want to join them.” She gestured to the doors to her left.</p>
<p>Before Octavia could say anything Bellamy shoved her towards the doors. “Yes, go have fun."</p>
<p>Octavia glanced at Bellamy, sticking her tongue out before leaving.</p>
<p>“Soooo….”</p>
<p>Bellamy glanced back at Clarke, who looked far too pleased with herself. “What?”</p>
<p>“I’m on your mind enough to tell your sister?”</p>
<p>“Just that you don’t appreciate busts enough.”</p>
<p>Her grin turned outright dirty and Bellamy could feel his cheeks burn even hotter.</p>
<p>“I won’t go that far, I find them very enjoyable indeed.”</p>
<p>“That’s not…” He cleared his throat. “You spend most of your time in the paintings gallery.” He tugged on his jacket, pretending to fix the already straight sleeve.</p>
<p>“Who are you suppose to be?”</p>
<p>He was never more grateful for a subject change. “An employed person. I’m not dressed up, I’m going to work.”</p>
<p>“Where do you work?”</p>
<p>“The Ice House.” He gave the unofficial name of the historical museum he worked at. If it could even really be called a museum.</p>
<p>“Oh, my mother runs that place.”</p>
<p>He remembered the tall reedy woman he met a year ago when he had started work. He rarely saw her since he always worked nights. He never would have connected the two women. Her daughter looked very little like her, but than he looked very little like his mother as well.</p>
<p>“Did you draw the short straw?”</p>
<p>“No, I prefer taking nights there, that way people aren’t asking me dumb questions.”</p>
<p>Clarke’s smile faded and Bellamy almost felt bad.</p>
<p>“I thought you liked talking to people about the exhibits. You always answer my questions.”</p>
<p>“That’s cause the exhibits here are just superstitions.” He shrugged. “But it helps pay my bills so I can’t complain too much.”</p>
<p>She stared at him for a long moment. Her blue eyes looked far more intense than he had ever seen them.</p>
<p>“Bellamy, it’s important to respectful to different faiths.”</p>
<p>“Hocus Pocus isn’t a religion. What happened here was just fear and judgment.”</p>
<p>“Just be careful tonight. Whether or not you believe lots of people believe in the Azgeda Witches, who knows what they will try to do on Halloween.”</p>
<p>Bellamy felt a chill run through him. He tried not to think of the meeting and numbers that had been in the back of his mind for the past week. Clarke couldn’t possibly know about it. He hadn’t told anyone, not even Miller. Still, her gaze on him made him feel like just maybe she had some idea of what was going on.</p>
<p>“Yeah, okay. I will keep that in mind.” He looked to where Octavia had gone. She hadn’t come back in tears so he figured Charlotte really had wanted to invite her. “I should go I don’t want to be late.”</p>
<p>“Okay, it was nice seeing you outside of the museum.”</p>
<p>“Same.” He reached into his pocket for his keys. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see that Clarke had moved to stand in front of him.</p>
<p>“Bellamy,” she spoke his name with a quiet intensity that unnerved him.</p>
<p>“Clarke?”</p>
<p>“I meant it, please stay safe.” She squeezed his shoulder. He could still feel her fingers when she pulled away. For just a second he wondered if it was because of something more than his embarrassing large crush he had on her. In the next second, he brushed it off. The atmosphere was getting to him; there wasn’t anything more than hormones going on here. Those he could deal with. Maybe when he came to pick Octavia up he could do something about it. Feeling better now that he had a plan in place Bellamy headed to work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was quiet when Bellamy relieved Luke for the night. While checking the old deck Bellamy noticed the creepy black cat that seemed to wander the grounds. It never shied away from him so he wondered if he should try to bring it inside. Halloween was never a good time to be a black cat. He didn’t want some asshole to try and use it for something stupid. This town was far too into hocus pocus. The cat made up his mind for him when it disappeared into the woods.</p><p>The weird cat had been the most exciting thing to happen in the past two hours, which Bellamy was fine with. He looked over to the main display; a recreation of the witches’ workshop. The Black Flame Candle was at the center of it. That was what he was supposed to be keeping an eye on most of all. Bored, he went up to the plank he had never bothered to read before.</p><p> </p><p><em>While </em> <em>most of the town was distracted by the harvest seven children had gone missing. By the time the parents went looking it was too late. All </em><em>seven of the children had been gruesomely torn apart. The field had turned black under their blood. The black blood made them sure it was the work of witches.</em></p><p> </p><p>Bellamy snorted at that. Under the moon, he was sure pools of blood would look black.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>They followed a trail to a local widow’s farm.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Bellamy wonder just what sort of trail was left if any, but that part was conveniently left out.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Widow Nia and her two wards were found with a gruesome array in the cabin. The widow and her wards were charged with eight murders and for the disappearance of her own son and daughter, who were feared to have been sacrificed to the devil. Before the three were drowned in blessed waters, the widow vowed that the children had paid blood for blood for her own youngest daughter, who had died some years before. She claimed that the blood debt was not fulfilled they would return when one of virgin blood lights the Black Flame Candle.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He wonder if the person who made the plank miscounted, if not he wondered who the eight murder victim was. He looked at the candle. It didn’t look any different from the candles in glass that had been all over the first group home he been sent to without Octavia. He sighed; the whole reason he was even considering this was because of her. Besides, it had been a few years since he fit the qualifications to bring back the witches if they were even real. He would do one more round before deciding what to do. </p><p>The only thing he encountered were two teenagers too wrapped up in each other to notice him till he shined his light on their faces. They took off into the woods faster than the cat. However, he heard shuffling noises when he approached his post. He had worked here long enough to be able to move across the old floors without stepping on any that squeaked. He peered around to see what he would be dealings with. What he sees made him stride into the room.</p><p>“O! What the hell are you doing?”</p><p>Octavia jumped high enough he would find it assuming if she wasn’t trespassing at his job. She whipped around to face him, placing her hands behind her back. </p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Like, nothing bad.”</p><p>“O, you’re here after hours. Technically you are trespassing.”</p><p>“Maybe I am just bringing you lunch?”</p><p>Bellamy walked to her, “Is that what you have behind your back?”</p><p>“Maybe?” She didn’t sound at all convincing. He held out his hand and reluctantly she dropped what she had into it.</p><p>“Matches? How thoughtful of you.”</p><p>She flushed. “Sorry, okay? I just…”</p><p>He pocketed the matches before placing his hands on her shoulders. “Come on O, what’s up? You here to burn the place down?”</p><p>“What? No, Do I look like Murphy?”</p><p>“First of all that was never proven, secondly it’s either that or you are going to light the candle. That one makes even less sense.”</p><p>She flushed darker. “Maybe I am.”</p><p>“What the hell?”</p><p>“Why do you care!” She tried to pull away but he held tight. “You don’t even think it’s real!”</p><p>“That’s not the point here. I’m sure they just rotate five candles out. The point is why are you doing this? If you believe it that it’s super stupid to do.”</p><p>“I don’t! It’s not like I think I’ll summon some witches, it was a…” she trailed off.</p><p>She didn’t need to finish. Bellamy’s overprotective brain was already in overdrive. “Did the girls at the party ask you to? Like some weird townie hazing?”</p><p>“No, not like that…well not exactly.”</p><p>“Then what exactly?”</p><p>“It was more like a dare, Charlotte did try to say I didn’t have to. Anyways Ana seemed to think it would be cool…”</p><p>“Why would you care what Ana thinks?”</p><p>Octavia's whole face turned red. “ ‘Cause.”</p><p>Bellamy signed, “O, if Ana needs you to do something illegal to notice you I think you need a new crush.”</p><p>“I don’t think crushes work like that.”</p><p>“I don’t think so either, but still don’t date her.”</p><p>“UGH, Bell! It wasn’t even her who suggested it. She’s just super cool so I thought if I did something badass she would notice it." She crossed her arms. “Can we please talk about something else?”</p><p>“Hey, come on O.” He pulled her in for a hug. Her hat made it a little difficult but he managed it. “Relax, if she likes spooky stuff maybe I can have Clarke talk to her mom about getting an after-hours tour for you two. I can make up all sorts of stories about creepy things that happen.”</p><p>“You just want an excuse to talk to Clarke.”</p><p>“I can have layers.” He felt more than saw his sister’s laugh. His gaze fell on the candle a little ways behind them.</p><p>“Bell, I do love your hugs but do you plan on letting me go any time soon?”</p><p>“Yeah, sorry.” He lowered his arms, still looking at the candle.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“I can do it for you?”</p><p>“Do what?”</p><p>“Light the candle.”</p><p>“What? Why? Did you just yell at me for damaging property of whatever?”</p><p>“For trespassing and maybe arson.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure arson is like super full of property damage. Why are you offering?”</p><p>“This creepy lady offered me a lot of money to light the candle tonight.”</p><p>“Bell!”</p><p>“She already gave me a thousand dollars.”</p><p>“That’s soooo shady. You’re going to end up a mob doctor or something.”</p><p>He glanced down at her. She looked worried. “Hey, it’s okay. I don’t have enough skills to be a doctor.”</p><p>“That’s even worse, what if they make you take the fall or something!”</p><p>“What have you been watching?”</p><p>“Auntie falls asleep in front of the TV all the time.”</p><p>That worried Bellamy, “How often is all the time? What about dinner?”</p><p>“Bell, I’m fine. I know it’s not really possible for you but don’t worry about it. It’s loads better than anything we had before. And now that you’re here, it’s the best.”</p><p>“Yeah, but if something happens to you, or her, I don’t know if they will let me keep you. That’s why I want to do this. The money will help the state think I can take care of you.”</p><p>What about explaining where the money came from? They track it and stuff.”</p><p>“Seriously, what have you been watching?”</p><p>“I’m not eight, I can know how the world works.”</p><p>“If it comes to that I will worry about it okay?”</p><p>Octavia pouted at him and suddenly he felts like she is five again, just before everything changed and all she wanted was a bunny. He rubbed his face.</p><p>“Look, even if the curse is real, which it isn’t, I won’t trigger it. It will just be a creepy candle and that’s it.”</p><p>“I don’t like it.”</p><p>“Yeah, neither do I but your Auntie is getting worse. I can’t have the state take you away.”</p><p>“We can just pretend she’s fine. It’s not like they do checks anymore. I’ll stay at your place, Miller and Bryan like me. I can cook.”</p><p>“So can the three of us. Seriously O, don’t worry about it. It will be fine.” He took out the matches and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He willed it away by telling himself he was just nervous about maybe losing his job for doing this. At least the place didn’t have any cameras. </p><p>“Bell!” hissed Octavia, tugging on his arm. </p><p>“O, you were doing to do it and it would be a lot more dangerous if you did.”</p><p>“I wasn’t actually going to, I was just going to take a picture. Honest!”</p><p>“O, the worse thing that will happen is that I set off the smoke alarm, it will be fine.”</p><p>She didn’t look convinced but she didn’t say anything, she just clung to his free arm. Together they walked up the candle. Bellamy lit a match on the first strike. He reached for the candle. They both jumped when something started to yowl.</p><p>Octavia tightened her grip, “What was that?”</p><p>“It’s just the cat that hangs around here. He’s probably calling for his friends or something.” He lit a new match. He held his breath till the match caught the wick. The candle flickered but nothing else happened. He pulled out his phone. The camera was super crappy but it would be enough to show it had been lit. He took a few just in case. </p><p>He went to blow out the candle but nothing happened. He tried two more times but nothing. The siblings looked at each other. Octavia started to look worried. Before Bellamy could comfort her the glass in a nearby cabinet exploded. She shrieked and he swore. He pulled his sister into his chest, shielding her face as the rest of the glass around the room shattered. He curled around her, nearing doubling over. It felts like an eternity before it’s quiet.</p><p>Something crunched and his head snapped up. Three women stood among the ruined glass. The two on the side seemed to be around his age while the woman in the middle was a few decades older. The old woman stared at him.</p><p>“Are you the one who lit the flame?” Her voice seemed far too kind for such a fierce face. Also, the fact that she looked like she was sizing him up. He tightened his hold on Octavia. </p><p>“I…” He trailed off when the dark-haired one came closer to them.</p><p>“Don’t mind Ontari, it’s just been such a long time since we have seen anyone.”</p><p>“Yes,” said Ontari. “We only want to thank you.” She reached out to Octavia.</p><p>“Big Brother…” She stepped away from Ontari’s reach. </p><p>It was quick as a flash but Bellamy didn’t not like the anger that spread across the woman’s face.</p><p>“There’s no need for thanks. We’ll just be on our way.”</p><p>“I think not,” hissed Nia. “We still need you.”</p><p>He had been too focused on Ontari to notice that the third woman had moved as well. She appeared at his side at the same time that Ontari stepped closer. He swore. They both reach for them at the same time. He dodged the woman on his left but that put them right in the path of Ontari. She grabbed at Octavia. She was stronger than Bellamy figured and managed to pull his sister from him.</p><p>“No!”</p><p>“Let me go!” Octavia kicked at Ontari.</p><p>“Come on Ashe, it’s just a man. Surely you can catch him.” </p><p>Bellamy doesn’t glance to see where Ashe was, he was too focused on his sister struggling in the woman’s grasp. The kicks weren’t working so Octavia bit down with all her strength on Ontari’s forearm. The bite was stronger enough to make her loosen her grip and Octavia twisted away.</p><p>“You brat!” She raised her hand to strike.</p><p>He felt a hand descend on his shoulder but he ducked down. He barreled into Ontari, ignoring the stings of glass when he lands.</p><p>“Don’t be so useless Ashe!”</p><p>“There is something’s odd with him,” said Ashe.</p><p>“I don’t care, just catch him!”</p><p>Bellamy was quicker to recover than Ontari, who was angrily swiping that the glass on her skin. He slipped on the glass but made it to Octavia.</p><p>“Must I do everything myself?” Nia started towards them. Bellamy wondered if they have enough time to make to the door when it slammed open. Everyone in the room turned towards the sound. A blur of movement moved to stand on the rafters. Bellamy gasped when he registered that it was Clarke.</p><p>“Nia!” Clarke’s voice rang throughout the cabin. “You and yours are not welcome. The water will hold you.” She lifted her hand and there was a small flame. Soon water from the sprinkler system started to fall.</p><p>“Blakes! Run!”</p><p>He didn’t have to be told twice. Neither did Octavia; both of them sprinted to the door. He didn’t seem how but soon Clarke was right there with them. She lead them to his truck. She wrenched open the door before sliding in. When Octavia reached her a second later she hauled the younger girl inside. Bellamy was right behind them. He felt something brush his leg as he closed the door. He looked down to see the black cat. If cats could glare this one certainly was.</p><p>“Imbecile!” shouted the cat. Bellamy just groaned. Might as well add a talking cat to everything else that had happened.</p><p>“Oh my god! You can talk!” exclaimed Octavia.</p><p>“Yes, I can.” The cat leaped onto her lap and she looked even more excited.</p><p>“Why did your mother hire such an imbecile?” </p><p>“I’m a little busy at the moment,” grumbled Clarke.</p><p>“You will be a whole lot busier if I sink my claws into you.”</p><p>“Hey!” Talking cat or not he couldn’t let him hurt Clarke. “Back off cat. Clarke doesn’t have anything to do with this.”</p><p>“My name is not “cat”. It’s Roan.And of course she does. Even if she wasn’t before she is now.”</p><p>“Look, everyone will explain things to everyone else in a minute, just let me get us where we need to go.”</p><p>“Fine,” grumbled the cat. </p><p>Bellamy relaxed slightly now that the cat didn’t seem interested in mauling anyone.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clarke took them to Polis Park. Even with all the trick or treaters out the park was quiet. She cut the engine and turned toward the Blake siblings. Roan hopped up onto the dash.</p><p>“What happened?” asked Clarke.</p><p>Roan snorted, “I think it’s obvious what happened.” He turned his green eyes towards Bellamy. “This idiot virgin lit a candle for reasons only his puny brain can know.”</p><p>“Roan, be nice.”</p><p>“Why should I be nice to someone who has doomed us all.”</p><p>Octavia frowned, conflicted between the awesomeness of meeting a talking cat and the fact that the cat was being mean to her brother. She turned to him. “Did you lie?”</p><p>She looked so disappointed that Bellamy felt bad even though he was pretty sure he hadn’t lie about anything, at least not tonight. “I didn’t.”</p><p>“Then why were you able to bring back the witches?”</p><p>“I…don’t know.”</p><p>“I do.” They both turned to look at Clarke. “When Nia talked about virgin blood she meant someone whose blood had never been used in a ritual before. It doesn’t matter how much sex you have or haven’t had.”</p><p>“Really?” asked Bellamy.</p><p>“Yeah, even though you were able to light the candle earlier you won’t be able to do it again cause your blood or essence is now considered…well, I don’t want to say used cause that had negative connotations.”</p><p>“No, no I get it.” He looked around. It was odd to be in the passenger seat of his car. He seldom sat here. His head whipped back to Clarke. She was started by his sudden attention. “How did you drive my car?”</p><p>“I basically hot-wired it.” Her pale skin did nothing to hide her blush.</p><p>Bellamy looked at the base of the steering wheel. It looked the same as before. “How?”</p><p>“Would you believe me if I said magic?”</p><p>“He would be stupid if he didn’t,” answered Roan before Bellamy could say anything.</p><p>“Be nice,” scolded Octavia. Roan huffed but made no further comments. She reached out and scratched his ears. Bellamy tensed, worried that Roan would react poorly, but the cat didn’t move.</p><p>“By magic is fine, but I want more explanation of what is going on. Like how you know to come to the museum? And why are we at this old park of all places?”</p><p>Clarke leaned back against the door. “This old park is the original start of the town back when it was known as Shallow Valley before all the Brownists took over.”</p><p>“Eden used to called something else? They don’t talk about that in school.”</p><p>“That’s cause they basically gave us the choice to join or die.”</p><p>“Us?”</p><p>“Witches, more or less.”</p><p>Octavia gasped, “So you really are a witch? And there are a bunch more here?”</p><p>“We are about a third of the town, at least those who use their powers. There are more who don’t know it.”</p><p>She bounced in her seat, overflowing with excitement. Bellamy didn’t feel nearly as excited; in fact, he felt a bit ill.</p><p>“We can talk about that later, the point is we are here cause the remaining families bless this park and the area at least once a year. It’s safe here while we figure out what to do. The witches shouldn’t be able to touch us here.” She paused. “At least for now.”</p><p>“What do you mean for now?” Bellamy didn’t like the qualifier.</p><p>“My mother and her minions will get stronger as time goes on, as they get used to being back in bodies. For now the general protections of this park should be enough to protect anyone. Clarke’s house is safer but only for the founding families. We should be here, at least for you two.”</p><p>“Okay, but what do they want?”</p><p>“We don’t know for sure. The Brownists got them before we could figure out what they wanted the blood of witch children for. There a lot of things that can be done with blood magic. Considering the way she took the blood nothing good can come from it.” She looked at him. “Why did you light the candle?”</p><p>Bellamy looked away. Before when none of this was real his reasoning was sound but now he felt guilty.</p><p>“He did it cause someone paid him to.”</p><p>“O, that makes me sound awful.”</p><p>“You’re not!” She looked between Roan and Clarke. “He’s not, really! He did cause of me.”</p><p>Clarke frowned at her. “Do you need money?”</p><p>The question made Bellamy’s walls jump up. If she knew anything about his life she wouldn’t have to ask that question. If she knew about life outside of her ivory house she wouldn’t be asking that.</p><p>“Not like right now, but if- ”</p><p>“O, leave it.”</p><p>"Bell, she asked! And it’s important.”</p><p>“Bellamy, I’m sorry but it is important. I need- ”</p><p>“Look, Princess,” He didn’t meant that to slip out. He half wanted to take it back and half wanted to embarrass her into stop talking. “Just cause you want something doesn’t mean you get in the real world.”</p><p>The silence that followed pressed down on all of them. His sister crossed her arms, he couldn’t tell if it was in anger or insecurity. It just made him feel awful. He snuck a glance at Clarke. Her big blue eyes were shocked and a little hurt. That made him feel even worse.</p><p>“We don’t have time for your pride, child.”</p><p>“Don’t call be a child, cat!” snapped Bellamy. Octavia hunched lower and his mood sunk lower too. He hated how once he started digging he never seemed to be able to stop.</p><p>“I’m nearly three hundred years old, everyone is a child. But enough talk, we need to figure out how to stop my mother.”</p><p>“Yeah, are we going to talk about that?”</p><p>Roan sighed. “If you would let me speak I will explain that. My mother was a cruel woman and a worse mother. She only ever had children to try and get the perfect child to carry on her exact legacy. She did not find that in me or my sister Lexa. My second sister, Echo, was everything she wanted. Since she had no more use for my father she murdered him. Of course, Lexa and I had no idea of this at the time. The older Echo got the clearer it became that my mother was molding her perfectly. Lexa and I worried what that would mean, however Echo died when she was still just a child. I had hoped that was the end of it since Mother was too old to have children. I was foolish to think such a thing.” He voiced was full of remorse.</p><p>“Mother used the blood of those seven children of the local powerful witch families to bind Echo’s…soul, if you will, to Lexa’s body.”</p><p>“What happened to Lexa’s soul?” whispered Octavia. Roan didn’t answer.</p><p>“Two souls can’t exist in one body, not for long. One takes over,” answered Clarke.</p><p>“I don’t know if Lexa lingered or slipped away. I had tried to stop Mother but she overpowered me. I woke as a cat deep in the woods. By the time I figure out how to get around and made it back into town Mother and her minions were dead. I searched but I was unable to find Lexa’s body.”</p><p>At that moment Bellamy felt a lot more charitable towards Roan. He didn’t want to think about what it would be like if he had failed to save Octavia.</p><p>Octavia reached out to pull Roan into her lap. To Bellamy’s amazement, the cat didn’t protest.</p><p>“There are rumors in the woods of a creature that lures people away and eat them, tearing them apart. I have search for the creature. If Mother failed to properly do a transference Echo would have to do just that to stay alive.”</p><p>“That would explain the blood for blood she supposedly said when she was killed. If so she will likely go after children of the families again.” She glanced nervously at Bellamy. Her nervousness made him hate himself a little more. “Can you tell me anything about the person who wanted you to do something?”</p><p>“Yeah sure,” he said eagerly. He wanted to make her feel better any way he could. “She actually approached me in the city at my other job, the one where I met you. It was raining so it was a little hard to make out her details. That and she was wearing a dark trench coat with sunglasses. She said she could help make my troubles go away. I told her to go away instead. She didn’t, instead she explained about what she wanted to do. She gave me a thousand dollars as an incentive and told me to meet her after my shift today.”</p><p>“Hmmm, if she truly believed that this would happen I don’t think she is waiting for you. Even if she is there and waiting, Nia probably would be too. It’s mostly a trap in case you get away from her.”</p><p>“That makes sense.”</p><p>“Since you got away their plans are probably all messed up but I am sure they will recover soon.” Clarke pulled out her phone and dialed a number. She frowned when no one answered. She tried a different number. “Hey, Miller. Sorry but I need to get right to the point, do you know where your dad is? I can’t get a hold of him.”</p><p>Octavia turned her attention to Bellamy and mouthed ‘Miller?’</p><p>Bellamy shrugged. He had no idea either. Listening to only half a conversation didn’t help to understand the situation but it sounded like Miller, or at least his dad, would be able to get the town on alert. Less than a minute later Clarke disconnected the call.</p><p>“Unfortunately Miller’s Dad is with my parents so he can’t set things up personally which would be best but his second will take care of everything.”</p><p>“Miller is a witch too?” asked Octavia.</p><p>“Yes, his family is in charge of protection.”</p><p>“That’s so cool.”</p><p>Clarke smiled and Bellamy felt his chest tighten. Her smile shouldn’t have such an effect on him. A crush shouldn’t affect him this much.</p><p>“Where are your parents?” asked Bellamy, mainly to distract himself from the fluttering in his chest.</p><p>“They, along with some of other older witches, are strengthening some weaker points where things try to get through tonight. That’s why I am here and not at university. Someone needed to watch Charlotte.”</p><p>“Charlotte!” exclaimed Octavia. “Is she going to be okay?”</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Clarke moved closer to Octavia to place a hand on her shoulder. “My neighbor came over. She will be able to keep her safe. We just have to worry about ourselves. I don’t know if they will go after you or focus on the old families.”</p><p>“Our mom is from here, maybe she was a witch and didn’t know it?”</p><p>“It could be possible but to find out we would have to- ” Clarke was cut off when something slammed into the side of the truck. Instinctually Bellamy’s arm shot out to brace Octavia in place. He felt the world spin around too many times to keep anything straight. Again all he could hear was breaking glass. When the world stopped spinning he could hear Octavia’s fast breathing.</p><p>“O!” He blindly reached out. He found her lying next to him on the ceiling of the cab. “O! Are you hurt?”</p><p>“No, I don’t think so. I’m okay.” Her breathing was steadier now so Bellamy felt himself relax.</p><p>He wiggled a little himself to see if anything was hurt. Surprisingly the only thing he felt was the cab light digging uncomfortably into his leg. That was good. He couldn’t afford to get hurt, in all meanings of the word. He waited for his heart rate to go down. It almost had when he realized he hadn’t heard anything from Clarke.</p><p>“Clarke!” His heart rate shot back up again. He braced his weight on his elbows, he could only see the top of her head. That didn’t let him know anything, but she hadn’t responded to him. That couldn’t be a good sign.</p><p>He called to her again. This time she did move, she twisted to look up at him. While it was dark he didn’t think he saw any blood on her. He moved his leg, hopefully the cab light still worked. It did; its dim light showed that she wasn’t bloody but she looked ashen.</p><p>“I’m okay Bellamy.”</p><p>“Are you sure? You don’t look very good.”</p><p>“Yeah, but we need to get moving. I think we’re out of the protect- ” For the second time that night her words were cut off. This time it was because something dragged her out of the cab. Her eyes widen; she reached out to grab onto him. He felt her fingers brush against his ankle however she was unable to hold on.</p><p>“Clarke!” It was painful but he was able to twist around and crawled out after her. They were in the middle of the road. That’s all he was able to notice before he focused in on Clarke. She was still on the ground. A figure was standing over her holding her leg, keeping her from getting away.</p><p>“Get away from her!” He rushed towards them. The figure looked up. Bellamy saw that it was a girl, barely older than Octavia. Her shallow face made her eyes look eerily large. He tried not to be fazed by the fact that they seemed to be glowing.</p><p>Instead of letting go, she pulled harder on Clarke’s leg. Clarke grunted as she scrabbled into a handstand to keep her head from bashing into the asphalt.</p><p>“Who are you to order me?” The girl spoke. “You are my servant.”</p><p>“I sure as hell am not!” He edged closer, hoping talking would her distracted enough to let Clarke free herself.</p><p>“I am paying you for a service.”</p><p>Unless something awful had happened to Abby Griffin, which he doubted since it was her daughter hanging upside down, this girl must be the one who approached him in the city. She hadn’t looked this creepy when they had met before.</p><p>“Yeah, but I already did what you paid me for so that doesn’t mean shit.”</p><p>She wrinkled her nose at that. It seemed to stay slightly off-center. “Young speaks so crude these days.” She grunted when Clarke landed a kick into the side of her ribs. She didn’t let go but Clarke pressed her foot more firmly against her. Something flashed and the girl hissed in the pain, stumbling back. Clarke rolled away but the girl started after her.</p><p>Bellamy rushed forward again, snapping her attention back to her. “Put a complaint in with my mother.”</p><p>A wicked grin spread across her face. “Oh, but I can’t can I? You made sure of that.”</p><p>Bellamy didn’t react, he didn’t want to give the girl any indication that her words affected him. It seemed she knew anyways; her grin grew wider.</p><p>“We already know what you would do to protect your sister. We know just how far will you go. Maybe this little witch would like to know what you would do to her to save your sister.”</p><p>“Leave her out of this.”</p><p>“Oh, I would love to but you are the one who dragged her into this. This is all your fault, unloveable boy.”</p><p>Bellamy’s fists tighten. There was no way he was going to let some creepy little whatever get under his skin. She was hardly original with her insults.</p><p>Roan leaped onto the girl, sinking his claws into her. The girl hissed reaching around to grab him, but Roan was quicker.</p><p>“So you are willing to hurt your little sister? What a horrid big brother you.”</p><p>“Lexa is long gone,” hissed Roan.</p><p>“Do I not count?”</p><p>“Not anymore Echo, whatever you are now is but a shadow of yourself.”</p><p>“And whose fault is that!” She reached out for him. “You stopped them before it was done! It’s your fault I am like this!”</p><p>“You need to come up with better insults. They lose their power when you use the same ones back to back.”</p><p>Bellamy circled around them to Clarke. She had sat up but wasn’t moving to stand. He lifted her with ease. Without prompting she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Keeping one eye on the siblings he hurried over to his own. He noticed for the first time how bashed up his truck was. It would most likely have to be scrapped. It was a miracle none of them had been hurt. Octavia was crouched just out of sight, she popped up when she saw Bellamy coming. She ran out to them.</p><p>“Clarke, are you okay?”</p><p>“For the most part, my ankle just hurts.”</p><p>Worried Octavia hovered closer when he carefully lowered Clarke. She stood but kept a hand on Bellamy for balance.</p><p>“Now what?” he asked.</p><p>“She used a lot of her power to get to us inside the park. It’s worrisome in general that she was even able to do it, let alone that she is still strong afterward.”</p><p>“Can Roan do more than talk?”</p><p>“Not magic wise, but it seems enough for now. Even if Echo is hundreds of years old she still seems to think like a child, which is good for us…kind of. We would be in major trouble if we had to fight a witch with hundred of years of power. I think she had been focusing on staying alive more than gaining power.” Clarke looked back towards the park.</p><p>“There are some old tunnels that we could use to escape...maybe. I’m not sure if she could follow us.”</p><p>As if talking about her called her attention to them, she looked over at them. Bellamy pulled Octavia behind him. Echo ran towards them. Roan swiped at her ankles but it did little to slow her down.</p><p>A roar came from behind them. Bellamy recognized the sound of the souped-up engine. Miller’s car came to halt between them and Echo. The top was down so they could clearly see Byran as he waved them over.</p><p>“Get in losers! We’re saving your asses!” Bryan shouted. Bellamy pushed Octavia ahead of them before he picked Clarke up again. Bryan helped lift Octavia into the car while Bellamy lifted Clarke up before jumping in himself. The moment he touched the car he felt something cool wash over him. He didn’t stop to question it; just like he didn’t stop to question why Echo had stopped coming for them. She was just screaming from a few feet away.</p><p>Roan leaped into the car at the last moment before Miller sped away. Bellamy wondered if he using magic since they didn’t encounter anyone else or hit any red lights on their way to Colony Row. He didn’t even know if magic worked like that.</p><p>“Why isn’t she chasing us?” he asked.</p><p>“She’s can’t,” answered Bryan. “Well, she can but it would be pointless. Nate has a barrier around us. It will keep her from getting us, especially if she used her power to attack you a Polis Park.”</p><p>Bellamy was distracted from asking more when Clarke lean against him. He shifted his arm so she was tucked into him. “Hey, you okay?”</p><p>Clarke laughed, “You keep asking me that.”</p><p>“Yeah, well we keeping getting in trouble and you are in the front line of it all.”</p><p>She tucked her head against his neck and he willed himself ignore the warmth that seeped into his bones from her touch. He also ignored the way Bryan wiggled his eyebrows at him. Instead, he brushed his hand against his sister’s shoulder. She turned to look at him.</p><p>“I’m fine, Bell.”</p><p>“We’ve been through a lot, it’s okay if you aren’t.”</p><p>“Really, I’m okay. You, all of you, have been keeping me safe. I’m more worried about Clarke.”</p><p>“You Blakes are a bunch of worrywarts.” Clarke’s words were muffled against his neck.</p><p>“They are,” agreed Miller. “You better get used to it. After tonight I am pretty sure you’ve officially entered the circle of Bellamy’s overprotective tendencies.”</p><p>“Dude, you make me sound like a cult.”</p><p>“It’s a very nice cult.” Miller pulled into the Griffin property.</p><p>“That’s an oxymoron,” muttered Bellamy. He wasn’t sure if Miller hadn’t heard him or just didn’t care to answer. They all got out of the car. Octavia hopped out of the car without bothering to use to door. He figured he would let that slide for now. He was more focused on making sure Clarke out and inside. He had no idea what she needed but being inside would surely help.</p><p>He looked up to see that Miller had pulled Bryan close to share a kiss, one hand was still in his hair. The other was dangerously close to be indecently lower on his back.</p><p>“Dude! Don’t make out in front of my sister.”</p><p>“Bell, I’ve seen worse at school. They’re not even necking that much.”</p><p>“O!”</p><p>“Don’t be too harsh on them Bellamy,” said Clarke. “It’s cause of a magic spike, it’s basically like adrenaline. Going for a run or making out, which is way more fun, helps calm it down.”</p><p>“That's if you don’t exhaust yourself.” Miller had let go of Bryan to give Clarke a pointed look.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah. Next time a sociopathic witch comes after us I will make sure to conserve enough power to want to make out.”</p><p>“That’s all we ask, Griffin.”</p><p>The second they entered the house. Charlotte threw her arms around Clarke’s middle. A woman with long pale blonde hair with a baby on her hip followed.</p><p>“Clarke!” Charlotte’s voice was muffled against her. “Are you okay? What happened?”</p><p>Clarke wrapped her free arm around her sister. “I just bruised my ankle. I will rest a bit and be fine.”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Yes, Lettie I’m sure.”</p><p>She still looked a little worried but took Clarke’s word for it. She turned to Octavia. “I’m sorry about the dare.”</p><p>Octavia shrugged. “It’s okay, you didn’t make me do it.”</p><p>Charlotte gave her a shy smile when she noticed Roan in her arms. “Did you get a cat?”</p><p>“I am not just a cat,” grumbled Roan.</p><p>Charlotte gasped as her face light up. “You talk! Are you a familiar?”</p><p>“Oh My God!” Octavia’s head whipped to look at Clarke. “Do I get one of those?”</p><p>“It’s a school of magic but I don’t know if it is yours. We still have to check that out.”</p><p>“Even if that is your magic, it wouldn’t be me. Because, again, I am not just some cat.”</p><p>“Before we do any of that,” Bellamy interrupted, “We need to patch Clarke up.”</p><p>“Okay, while you do that I will get Mr. Not-A-Cat some food?” asked Charlotte.</p><p>“Finally someone with manners.”</p><p>“Clarke if it’s okay with you, Bryan and I will check that everything is in place. I’m sure Bellamy will be happy to help patch you up.” He grinned at Bellamy in a way only best friends could, Bellamy resisted the urge to hit him. Clarke was more important at the moment; and not because of the reason Miller was implying.</p><p>“Yeah, thanks, Miller.”</p><p>“No worries.” He slugged his arm around Bryan as they walked deeper into the house.</p><p>"Clarke do you want me to stay and help?" asked the woman.</p><p>"Thanks for the offer Glass but you have done more than enough."</p><p>Glass smiled, "It was no trouble. Don't hesitate to ask for anything else tonight. It feels like whatever this is isn't over yet."</p><p>"It's not but we can rest up for now."</p><p>Glass tugged the baby closer to her before giving Clarke a kiss on the cheek. She nodded to Bellamy before leaving.</p><p>Bellamy focused fully on Clarke. She wasn’t ashen anymore but she was still dirty and scraped. He was sure he was in a similar state.</p><p>“Let’s get you taken care of.”</p><p>Clarke smiled at him, “Aren’t you a lovely knight in shining armor.”</p><p>Bellamy huffed, hoping she wouldn’t notice the blush that spread across his cheeks.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this chapter has some heavy stuff in it so I will add a Trigger Warning. I also broke up this chapter so half of it is now part of the next one in case anyone needs to skip it they wouldn’t miss any big plot points.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>.<br/>TW for discussion of suicide and a murder-suicide attempt.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bellamy lowered Clarke on to the chair by the fireplace. He started to look her over. She was covered in dirt and scratches, looking far worse than he or Octavia did. Then again neither of them had been dragged along the road.</p><p>He turned her wrist over. For a second he forgot to breathe. There was a cut at the base of her wrist. Thankfully it didn’t look very deep but that didn’t stop his insides from twisting. He had to remind himself that this was a completely different situation. That Clarke was a very different kind of person.</p><p>“Bellamy,” started Clarke but Bellamy interrupted her.</p><p>“Do you have a first aid kit?” She didn’t answer right away but he didn’t look at her. He wasn’t sure if he had schooled his expression into something neutral.</p><p>“There’s one in the closet by the kitchen.”</p><p>Bellamy kept his pace controlled when he left the room. It was easy enough to find the kit. However, he stayed in the hall for a few moments, till he could breathe normally. Till he couldn’t smell blood and hear groans. Just to be sure he glanced into the kitchen. He didn’t get any flashes of a dark-haired woman laying on the floor in a much smaller, dirtier kitchen.</p><p>Bellamy walked back to Clarke. All of the calm he had managed disappeared the moment he saw Clarke. Her foot was directly on the now fulling burning logs. He was vaguely aware of the sound of the kit crashing onto the wooden floor. The sound made Clarke look up but she wasn’t able to do much else before Bellamy was on her, pulling her away from the fire. She didn’t resist him but they still ended up on the floor.</p><p>“Clarke!” He gripped her calf, terrified to touch or see the blistered skin of her foot. Still, he looked; only to see nothing. Her foot was smooth and pale. There weren’t even any bruises on it, which he was sure there had been before. Shocked he moved his hand down to run along her foot.</p><p>Her hand came into view as she tugged his hand off of her foot. She tugged him further still till they were facing each other.</p><p>“I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you why I want to be at fireplace. Long story short, fire doesn’t hurt me. I can actually use it to help me.” She turned over her hand in his so that it was palm up. He saw that the skin there was healed as well. The cut by her wrist was gone. He traced along where it use to be. He couldn’t quite believe it but he could only feel smooth skin beneath his thumb. He resisted the urge to bend down to kiss it.</p><p>“I’m sorry too.” He looked through his lashes, nervous about her reaction. “I shouldn’t have been rude to you in the truck. You were just trying to help.”</p><p>She gave him small smile. “I understand, it’s been a stressful night. I can’t imagine how much worse it is without knowing anything about magic beforehand.”</p><p>He smiled back, trying to ignore the happy glow he felt that she was smiling for him. That was when he noticed he was still cradling her hand. She didn’t seem to mind, in fact she moved her hand so that she was more or less holding his hand. When she moved a little closer to him he told himself that’s why she was started to hold his hand, it was just for balance. He wasn’t sure what to tell himself when her lips parted slightly before saying his name.</p><p>He looked down so he wouldn’t do anything stupid, like kiss her. He placed her hand down against her leg but couldn’t bring himself to move, not yet.</p><p>He cleared his throat. “I leave you be so you can call Niylah.”</p><p>“Why would I call Niylah?”</p><p>“Like you said, it’s been a stressful night. I figured you would like to talk to her. If I would have a girlfriend I would want to talk to her after everything happened. Even if it’s just to hear a friendly voice for a bit.” He looked up realizing how his words could be taken. “I mean, not that you aren’t friendly…” He trailed off when he saw her wide smile.</p><p>“Niylah isn’t my girlfriend.”</p><p>“But you said the two of you were on a date.”</p><p>“We were but we wanted different things so we stopped seeing each other like that.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“So you don’t have a girlfriend?”</p><p>“Nope, I don’t have any sort of romantic partner at the moment.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Clarke smiled again, he was starting to like how often she smiled at him.</p><p>“Is Niylah why I am getting such mixed messages from you?”</p><p>Bellamy felt his face warm, it burned even hotter when his voice crocked out, “What?” </p><p>“Well…” she leaned scouted closer till there was very little room between them. “Sometimes you look at me like you want to do nothing more than kiss, but then you shut down.”</p><p>“Oh…yeah. I didn’t want to come across as creepy. I was going to ask you later how it was going with Niylah. To like test the waters or something. It made sense in my head.” He bend over so that their foreheads were resting against each other.</p><p>“It was a smooth plan.”</p><p>Bellamy swallowed when he felt her breath against his lips. His hand moved to cup along her jaw.</p><p>“If you asked me later, the answer would be the same. Tonight’s events, just sped things up…” Her words were muttered, like she wasn’t giving them much thought. However, the words pierced through Bellamy’s fog.</p><p>Tonight’s events were all his fault. His sister was in danger again. He had saved her last time. Clarke liked him because he didn’t know what he had done. He jerked back when he felt Clarke’s lips brush again his. His hand moved to brace against her shoulder. He didn’t want her to try to get closer, but she didn’t try to move.</p><p>“Bellamy?”</p><p>He didn’t answer.</p><p>“Are you okay? Do you want some water?”</p><p>He remembered the last time he wanted to get water in the middle of the night. He remembered the dull light from the stove barely showing his mother laying on the floor. The dark puddles on the floor and the stains against her wrists. He remembered that he had taken a step forward before remembering what she had tried to do just over a week ago. He remembered looking back to the room he shared with Octavia. He remembered walking away and laying down next to his sister. He remembered listening to her deep breaths as his mother’s groans slowly faded. He remembered staring ahead till sunlight filled the room.</p><p>“Did you not want to kiss?”</p><p>He didn’t know how to answer that. There was nothing more that wanted but he couldn’t let her. He couldn’t let her kiss him, he couldn’t let her try to save him from whatever else was going to happen tonight.</p><p>“We can’t kiss.” He chocked out.</p><p>“Oh.” Clarke sounded disappointed. “That’s fine, but something is wrong. Can you tell me what happened?”</p><p>“I need you to promise that you will keep Nia away from Octavia.”</p><p>“I promise. I will keep both of you safe from them.”</p><p>“No. Not both of us, just O.”</p><p>“Bellamy.” She placed her hand on the inside of his arm. She moved it upwards till she cupped his face. Her other hand joined so that she could tilt his face to look at her. She looked calm and soft. There was no pity in her gaze but he almost preferred if there was. He hated to see her current look change when she find out he as good as killed his mother. He didn’t want to tell her but he figured Echo would tell her just like she had threatened to do early. Properly at a time that distracted Clarke and put her in even more danger. She had already risked so much for him, he didn’t want to get hurt again because of him.</p><p>“I have to tell you what Echo was talking about.”</p><p>“I understand if you want to talk to me but you don’t have to. Echo and people like her twist things to be true. Twist guilt to seem like truth.”</p><p>“This one is a truth. I have to tell you so you can decide if I am worth protecting”</p><p>He sees Clarke press her lips together but she held back what she was going to say. He was glad. He didn’t want her to have to take back her words. “Okay, I’m listening. I will listen to the end of your truth.”</p><p>“O and I became wards of the state when I was ten and she was five. We just lived with our mother before that but it wasn’t much better than the places they put us. It was only better because we were able to be together. Our mother was…I don’t know what she was but it wasn’t nice. All I know what that it was a tense life. We would move around a lot. Some days I won’t see her for hours. Some days I had to help bandage the cuts I think she gave herself. She always keep Octavia inside. If we had a yard or balcony she couldn’t go on it. She would have me go buy most of the things we needed. I came back from a store run when…” His breath shuttered. Clarke rubbed her thumbs against his cheekbones. The motion grounded him, he tried to think of the last time someone had given him such a smoothing touch. He couldn’t think of a time so he enjoyed the feeling. Slowly his breathing returned to normal.</p><p>“I don’t know why but our bathroom didn’t have a door. I could see our mother given O a bath or at least that’s what I thought it was but she wasn’t in the tub. The shower was running but they were both on the tile. She had her hands around O’s throat. I couldn’t hear over the water but I could see that she was trying to gasp for breath. I-I don’t really know what happened next. The next thing I can clearly remember was Octavia behind me. She was doing this small whimpering cry and the shower curtain was on the ground between our mother and us. She just stared at me like she couldn’t understand what I was doing before saying that I couldn’t have a sister and a mother. I couldn’t have both, maybe I couldn’t even have one. I don’t think it was even two weeks later I found her in the middle of the night dying on the kitchen floor. I thought for one second about going to her but then I remember what she had done and what she had said. Instead, I went back to O’s and my bedroom. I stayed with O and listened to our mother die in the kitchen…Clarke, I already know what I will do to save my sister. I will murder my mother.”</p><p>“Bellamy, I can’t think of anything to say to help with what happened when you were a kid.”</p><p>“That’s cause there is nothing to be said. I murdered her.” He paused. Something that he had barely even let himself think wanted to burst out. He supposed since he had already ruined everything he might as well do it.</p><p>“I did stop to think of helping her so I don’t know if it makes it better or worse that I would choose it again. If I could travel back in time to that moment I would choose the same thing. That’s what really makes me bad. I would fully clearly choose to let her die.”</p><p>“Let her die, that’s the right thing to say Bellamy. Not murder, you didn’t get out of bed and go murder your mother. You came across her after she attempted suicide. You didn’t prevent her death but you didn’t cause it either.”</p><p>“You don’t understand-”</p><p>“You’re right I don’t understand. I could never imagine my mother trying to hurt Charlotte or making me choose, at ten, if my mom or my sister got to live. It was wrong and cruel and I am sorry that happened to you.”</p><p>“Even if I didn’t murder her I still could have saved her.”</p><p>“Yes you could’ve but that would have cost Octavia her life.”</p><p>“We don’t know that, maybe she wouldn’t have tried again. Maybe I could have gotten her help. I could have done more.”</p><p>“Bellamy, Bellamy.” Clarke rested her forehead against his. “You were ten. Everyone sucks at long term thinking at ten. Do you need someone to tell you that it was acceptable what you did? That you did the best at any little boy could do? Do you need forgiveness?”</p><p>“I don’t deserve forgiveness. I am not a good person.”</p><p>“Forgiveness isn’t always about what we deserve, it’s about what other people are willing to give us. I am willing to forgive you Bellamy. I forgive you Bellamy.”</p><p>“Clarke.” His voice broke.</p><p>“I forgive you for letting your mother die. I forgive you for not being able to save both of them. I forgive you for chosen your sister. You’re forgiven.”</p><p>Bellamy gasped. It felt like someone had sucker-punched him, but a hundred times better. He slipped her forehead down to rest on her shoulder. “Forgiveness doesn’t make me a good person. That’s what it makes you.”</p><p>“I choose to be good. You can choose to be good. Good acts don’t have to come from good people. Even if you have done bad stuff before you can still choose good things now. You help your sister all the time, you chased after me when I was pulled from the truck. Those are good acts. Being good and bad doesn’t exist in a tally system.”</p><p>Bellamy longed for that to be true. Maybe it was but he still didn’t want to her risk herself for him, whether he was a good or bad person. He moved his hand to the small of her back. “It doesn’t matter if I am good or bad, I don’t want you risking yourself for me.”</p><p>“Just Octavia?”</p><p>“I prefer if you didn’t do that either, I just want you to help keep her safe. If there is any life-risking involved let me do it.”</p><p>“I prefer if you didn’t do that too. Let’s just do our best to not reach that point.”</p><p>Bellamy figured that was the best he would get out of her so he just hummed his agreement. He didn’t move, he had no idea if she was letting him hold her cause he had basically broken down on her or just because she wanted to. If it was the former he wanted it to last as long as it possibly could. He tried not to get too hopeful when her free hand started to brush through his hair. His eyes closed and he enjoyed the sensation for who knows how long before small hurried steps he didn’t recognize came closer.</p><p>“Clarke?” called out Charlotte. Reluctantly Bellamy pulled away till they were just sitting facing each other. That’s was how Charlotte found them. “Are you all patched up? Octavia wants to know a bunch of stuff. Miller has been able to answer most of it but we don’t know how to find her magic.”</p><p>“Yeah, we’ll be right there.”</p><p>Satisfied Charlotte left the room. Clarke turned her attention back to Bellamy. “Are you okay to go up? I can make up an excuse or something. Octavia will be too distracted to think much of it I think.”</p><p>Bellamy was coming dangerously close to loving the woman in front of him. “No that’s okay. We’ll go up together.”</p><p>He stood and helped her up. Before he could let go she linked her fingers with his. She leaned up to press a lingering kiss on his cheek. When she stepped away he resisted to urge to grab her hands again to kiss her till neither of them could think. He wanted his emotions to be more settled before anything like that happened.</p><p>“Is that okay?”</p><p>“More than okay. You can do that whenever you like.”</p><p>Again she smiled at him, again he felt warm.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm posting two chapters this week since I decided to end chapter four halfway through what I originally had planned.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone stared at Clarke while she waited for the process to finish. Charlotte’s warm weight was pressed against her side, edger to see how it happened.</p><p>“How will I know if my magic works?” asked Octavia.</p><p>“If you have it it will work. You’re untrained so you won’t be able to do much but you will have magic,” asked Clarke.</p><p>“But will it work?”</p><p>“Yes, why wouldn’t your magic work?”</p><p>“ ‘Cause Charlotte said different types of magic work differently so I wondered if I like had water magic if I couldn’t use it in the desert.”</p><p>“You could still use it even in the desert. It’s humidity levels I guess. Things work better at certain levels of humidity. None of our magics are native here but they still work.” Clarke sighed. “I’m not really sure how else to explain it.”</p><p>“It changed!” Charlotte said awed. Octavia hurried closer to Clarke.</p><p>“What does it say?”</p><p>“Congratulations you’re a witch.”</p><p>“Bell! Bell!” She turned to look at her brother. “I’m a witch!”</p><p>“I heard.”</p><p>She turned her attention back to Clarke. “What kind of witch am I?”</p><p>“There is a magic you and Bellamy share so I suppose it’s from your maternal side. It seems like you guys are from one of the nine founding witch families.”</p><p>“Does that mean we are super awesome?”</p><p>“You’d be awesome anyways, but yes.”</p><p>Charlotte ducked under Clarke’s arm to stand next to Octavia. “I can show you so many things, it’s going to be so cool!”</p><p>Clarke looked at Bellamy who was smiling at his sister’s excited ramblings with Charlotte. He looked up when he noticed her eyes on him. Something must have shown on her face because he frowned. He walked over to her. Miller joined them as well.</p><p>“What’s wrong Clarke?”</p><p>She glanced at Miller; judging by his frown he was thinking the same thing.</p><p>“Bellamy, Nia started the ritual to bring back Echo. She needed one child from each of the families that sent up the town as a haven. However, she was unable to get two of them. One family deliberately let themselves die out so that if Nia ever came back she couldn’t complete the ritual.”</p><p>“That’s good news right?”</p><p>“Yes, but Nia will probably find some other way to bind Echo fully, this just gives us a lot more time to handle it. She may still come after the family that she missed the last time around, which would be yours.”</p><p>“I know it’s next to impossible for you but don’t worry too much man.” Miller clapped his hand on Bellamy’s shoulder. “We have barriers set up here and all around town.”</p><p>“That didn’t work so well at the park.”</p><p>“It kinda did. Echo was able to get you but she used up all her powers. I’ve been able to get ahold of my dad since then. Those who can are heading back as we speak. Let’s just focus on holding down the fort.”</p><p>Clarke felt the weight of Roan land on her shoulder. “We still shouldn’t dally. We need to make plans. Nia will certainly have back up plans.” He nudged his face against Clarke’s cheek. “You keep your sister safe too. She might go after some of the families again. Yours is very powerful.”</p><p>“I don’t need to be told to keep my sister safe.”</p><p>If cats could roll their eyes Roan certainly did. “Just do it. She’s the only one of you with any manners. Focus on blood matters. Nia keeps vials of Ashe’s and Ontari’s blood on her at all times. Maybe we can use that.”</p><p>“Clarke!”</p><p>Clarke looked up at her sister’s shout.</p><p>“Can I take Octavia to the study? I want to see what she can focus on.”</p><p>“I can take them,” offered Bellamy.</p><p>“No,” said Miller. “I’ll go. I can give them an extra layer of protection and maybe hide them from Nia. Bryan has an uncanny ability to find information so he can help out.”</p><p>Bryan walked over at the sound of his name. “You talking about me?”</p><p>“Only how awesome you are.”</p><p>Bryan blushed and leaned in to kiss Miller. “That’s sweet. What am I awesome at?”</p><p>“Can you help us look into Nia or any notes on her power?” asked Clarke. “I doubt we can find anything that generations before hadn’t thought of but it will be good to know whatever we can.”</p><p>“Sure, sound good.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ashe stayed in the shadows of the cabin. It was odd to see Nia fuss, or at least what seemed to be fussing, over someone. They had found Echo near Polis Park as it was now called. She shuttered, both at the feeling the park had given her and at remembering seeing Echo for the first time.</p><p>Echo was falling apart, her skin was ashen and seem sag along her frame. It didn’t help that she looked like Lexa. Ashe had a hard time looking at her without feeling extremely guilty. She was so lucky that Nia had taken her in, that she hadn’t punished her for the childhood accident. Even now she wasn't sure of what had happened or why her powers had flared suddenly. All she could clearly remember was Echo laying dead on the ground, blood leaking from her eyes and ears.</p><p>“Ashe!” Nia’s harsh voice pulled her from her thoughts. She walked over to her, still not looking at Echo.</p><p>“Yes, my Queen?”</p><p>“My poor Echo needs help.” Nia held out her hand, a small golden skinning blade was in her other hand. Ashe knew what that meant and dreaded what came next, but she couldn’t say no; not after everything.</p><p>“Of course.” She placed her forearm into Nia’s grasp. She closed her eyes before the blade reached her skin.</p><p>Ashes had 15 slashes on each arm by the time Nia was though. She stumbled back, fighting back the waves of dizziness. Her back hit a beam and she stopped trying to move. She hummed low to ease the pain and slow the bleeding. When the room stopped spinning she could see the Ontari had come to lead against the wall near her. She smirked when she noticed Ashe’s gaze.</p><p>“Thank you mother,” Echo's voice was far stronger than when she had first spoken.</p><p>“Certainly dear.” She turned her attention to her apprentices. “Now we need to focus on those idiot nine families. What are the needed ones called?”</p><p>“Blake, my Queen,” answered Ontari. “The Radcliffes supposedly let themselves die out but one of them seemed to have a wandering dick. I could smell their blood in the Griffin girl.”</p><p>The grin that spread across Nia's face was purely wicked. “That’s wonderful. Those Griffins always did think too highly of themselves and their goody ways. Taking away more of their children will be a pleasure. Who do you think will weep more, the mother or the father?”</p><p>Ontari shrugged. Ashes was sure Ontari hadn’t cry once in her life.</p><p>“The Blake mother is long dead, but the brother weep,” said Echo. “He will do anything for that sister of his, her death will break him.”</p><p>“Excellent, that will make his blood all the richer.”</p><p>“What do we do about the families? If there is blood from all nine, even with just the apprentices, they will give us enough trouble till the elders return”</p><p>Nia looked annoyed at Ashe’s question. “That’s where you come in. Echo told me that they now have excellent methods of communication All we have to do is tap into their town warning bells. Apparently, they can reach across the entire town. We don’t even have to use all of your power to do this.” She looked Ashe up and down with disdain. “Which is good since you can’t even recover from a mild draining.”</p><p>It had felt like far more than a mild draining but she wouldn’t contradict Nia. “What would you have me do?”</p><p>“Sing your siren song, cause just enough danger and mayhem to cause havoc on the town.”</p><p>“Why not kill them all, Mother?” asked Echo.</p><p>“Because my dear, if we do that the Nine only feel righteous in their crusade against us. However, if we cause danger to their precious humans they will be too distracted trying to save them to bother with us.” She turned to Ashe. “Now let’s go make some use of you.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Clarke jumped when her phone started to buzz. She quickly went into the hall when she saw it was her mother. Bryan was deep into research mood, she didn’t want to keep him from finding something important.</p><p>“Mom.”</p><p>“Clarke, baby are you okay?”</p><p>She almost cried at the sound of her mother’s voice.</p><p>“Yeah, a little drained but I’m okay.”</p><p>“Captain Miller filled us in on some of it but I want to hear from you.”</p><p>“Right, okay…” Clarke went through the events as much and as fast as she could. “Also it turns out that the Blakes descent from one of the families so we have to keep any extra eye out for them.” She thought of what Bellamy had told her before; of the pain that he and Octavia had gone through.</p><p>“They’re alone mom, we have to help them.” Her voice broke a little.</p><p>“Oh baby, I know. And we will. Your Dad and I have already left. We can’t get there with magic and still be able to help so it will take us a while yet. Are all of you safe?”</p><p>Clarke nods even though her mother can’t see her. “Yeah, we are. We’re still at home.”</p><p>“Good. I want you to stay there. Octavia’s safe, she the one in the most danger right now. If anything comes up let the other families handle it.”</p><p>“Okay, what about Nia? Can we do anything about her?”</p><p>“No, don’t even think about it. Right now it’s going to come down to a power of wills and brute strength. You’re not at her level, especially since she will fight dirty.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>“I know it sucks but we have to use our heads in this.”</p><p>“I know. I just like you said, it sucks.”</p><p>“It does. Remember stay safe, we will be there soon.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“I have to go but stay safe. We love you Clarke, and Charlotte too.”</p><p>“Yeah, we love you guys too.” She disconnected the call to lean against the wall.</p><p>Not even a minute later she heard Bellamy enter the hall. She wondered when she started being able to recognize his steps.</p><p>“Hey.” His voice was soft when he reached her.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>“Who was on the phone?”</p><p>“My parents. They’re on the way and they want us to stay here. We just aren't strong enough to take on Nia.”</p><p>Bellamy frowned. “Is that a good idea? Doesn’t that give her more time?”</p><p>“It’s a better idea than all of us dying. She’s a full-on powerful witch master, Most of us here would still be considered apprentices, maybe journeymen. Either way, we just aren’t enough. Maybe if we were all able to gather together and maybe if Byran found something concrete.”</p><p>“Right okay.” He stepped closer to her to tug her into his embrace. Clarke was more than happy to lean into his hug. This was only the second time he held her but she was already coming to love it. “I’m just worried.”</p><p>“Of course you are. Everything about this is worrisome.”</p><p>“I also just feel like I’m not helping out much and this is basically my fault too.”</p><p>“Hey.” She leaned back to cup his face. “It’s okay, we will figure this out.”</p><p>Bellamy hummed before placing a kiss on her wrist. She noticed it was the same spot she had had a cut earlier. The same one that had seemed to worry him the most. After what he had told her about his mother, it made sense. The thought of his mother made her want to be able to go back and save little Bellamy. To wrap him up tight in a blanket and keep him safe. However since she couldn’t do that she would settle on keeping this Bellamy safe, maybe even happy. She longed to kiss him but she didn’t know if she could. He had reacted poorly last time. Even though she knew the reason why she knew that one conversation wasn’t going to make it all better. She just didn’t want to speak break the moment.</p><p>“I just wish I could help you more. Maybe if I did I could have used magic to save my truck.”</p><p>She hid her disappointment and moved her hands to the less intimate position of resting on his shoulders. “Maybe. We could have tag-teamed it, I kept the people safe and you save yourself from property damage.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“Oh! I didn’t meant that you wouldn’t have kept us safe first but I already had that covered.”</p><p>“I thought it was a miracle that none of us got hurt in the crash but that was you wasn’t it?”</p><p>“Yeah, it was me.”</p><p>“You’re amazing, you know that right?”</p><p>Clarke felt her face flush, she knew her pale skin would do nothing to hide it. He smiled at her and rested his forehead against hers. “Do you really want this?”</p><p>“Define this.” She tried to not get her hopes up. It seemed like there was very little he could be referring to but she didn’t want to jinx it or embarrass herself.</p><p>“Do you really want to kiss me?”</p><p>“Not only that, I want to go on actual dates to the museum. I want to sneak behind that bend in the Classics Hall and steal some kisses there.” She felt the puff of his breath against her lips at that. She thought maybe she would noticed the way his breath smelt but all she could noticed was how it made all her nerves tingle. “I want to show you actually magic. I want to be there when you are lonely or when you just want to have a chat. I just want you.”</p><p>“Clarke…” His voice was rough. That made her felt warmer than any fire. “I want that too.”</p><p>“Good.” She muttered against his lips before she finally kissed him. One kiss turned into two which turned into three. Each one was slow and dragging; unhurried in the knowledge that they would be able to do this again and again whenever they wanted. Well, maybe not whenever she thought but pretty close to it.</p><p>Bellamy pulled away from her when she started to play with the ends of his curls. She hummed in disappointment but he only laughed. Right then and there she decided she loved that sound. It would be her mission to make him laugh as often as she could. It was the least he deserved.</p><p>“Clarke, I came out here for a reason.”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah, Byran wants food. I figured since he knows more of what to look for I can easily get food. I make killer sandwiches.”</p><p>“Good to know.” She gave him one last peck before leading him down to the kitchen.</p><p>They figured since they were making Byran a sandwich they might as well make one for everyone. They worked in comfortable silence though Bellamy kept sneaking kisses from her. He held her from behind as she put the finishing touches on the last sandwich. She had a feeling Bellamy was going to a very tactile boyfriend, not that she minded in the least. His left hand started to play with the hem of her shirt. He didn’t do much else so she figured it was an absent sort of action. It did remind her of what she had placed on him earlier that evening. She turned to face him. For a moment she was distracted by his freckles. This close she could count them all. She filed away the desire to kiss each one to be explored at a different time.</p><p>“Am not being too much am I?” asked Bellamy stepping back.</p><p>“No, no. It’s not that. I just have a confession.”</p><p>“More than what we already have confessed? Should I be worried?”</p><p>“No, I don’t think so. It’s just I placed a protection charm on you when you dropped off Octavia tonight.”</p><p>Bellamy didn’t say anything but he didn’t seem to be mad so Clarke waited.</p><p>“Did you have to touch me to do?”</p><p>“Yes.” She placed her hand on his right shoulder. He had taken off his jacket so she could felt the heat of his skin. “Right here.”</p><p>“I felt you do it.” He blushed. “Though I thought I was tingling cause I liked you.”</p><p>That made her smile. “Nope, it was cause I was trying to keep you safe.” She leaned forward to kiss the same spot, adding just a little more to the charm.</p><p>“Did you have to do it like that?” He sounded amused.</p><p>“No, but it’s more fun.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s nice.” He placed a kiss in her hair. “Let’s get these sandwiches up there before I indulge in something even more fun.”</p><p>The dark promise in his voice made her face burn. She was glad she was hidden from his direct view.</p><p>“Sounds good.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When they returned to the room they saw that Miller and the girls had joined back up with Bryan.</p><p>“Yay! Food!”</p><p>“O, manners,” chided Bellamy.</p><p>“Thank you for the food,” amended Octavia.</p><p>Before any of them could eat a slow wail started. A first Clarke thought it was a storm warning but a song started. She couldn’t make out the words. When she tried to focus on them she felt dizzy. The air was getting heavy and she reached out for Charlotte. As soon as it started it stopped. The wail was still there but now it seemed far away as if they were underwater.</p><p>“What’s that?” asked Bellamy.</p><p>“It’s a siren’s call,” answered Miller.</p><p>“That means the timetable was just moved up.” Clarke sighed in frustration. She didn’t want to get in over their heads but she was afraid that soon they would have no choice.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bellamy tried to keep his distract himself from the fact that Clarke still wasn’t back yet by making sure Octavia finished her sandwich. She and Charlotte were talking about everything she had learned tonight a little too much to focus on eating.</p><p>“O, take a breathe and finish your food.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes but took a bite. “You’re just bugging me cause you just can’t hover over Clarke.”</p><p>“I, what? Why would I hover over Clarke?”</p><p>She batted her eyes at her big brother. “Cause you liiiiike her.”</p><p>“Do you?” gasped Charlotte.</p><p>“Everyone knows he likes Clarke.”</p><p>“Not helping, Miller.” Bellamy glared at his friend.</p><p>“Maybe I am dude. You have been wanting to talk to her for ages.”</p><p>“A few months is not ages.”</p><p>Before Miller could continue Clarke reentered the room. Bellamy had never been happier to see her for many reasons. “Okay, Monty going to continue the chain.”</p><p>“What chain?” asked Bellamy.</p><p>“The town is divided into sections that are protected or patrolled by certain families to keep safe. It’s kind of divided by where people live but sometimes that overlaps, like how Glass and I live on the same street.”</p><p>Bellamy frowned. “You’ve done a lot today, are you up to protecting part of the town?”</p><p>“Miller and I aren’t going. We have seconds that can step up. It shouldn’t be too dangerous for any of them. I’m pretty sure this is just a distraction. The real problem is going to be Nia herself and whatever she is doing, but that is something for the elders to handle. It’s hard but it’s really best for us to sit tight.”</p><p>“Clarke!”</p><p>Bellamy felt dread at Charlotte’s excited tone. He frowned; that didn’t make much sense. It wasn’t like Clarke didn’t know he liked her. Their talk and the time in the kitchen had certainly put any of his misgivings to rest.</p><p>“Yeah?” asked Clarke as she grabbed her plate.</p><p>“I don’t think you have to worry about-”</p><p>“Charlotte,” interrupted Miller. “If someone told you something early maybe you should talk about it later.”</p><p>He felt a burst of affection towards his friend. Miller might tease him but he knew when it would be too much for Bellamy. Charlotte looked confused and a little worried. Which he saw made Clarke look confused and worried. Their noses wrinkled in the exact same way. He found it adorable. To save the Griffin girls Bellamy reached out; Clarke was close enough he could tug her towards him. He kept the pressure light so she could resist if she wanted to. She didn’t so he tugged her down to sit sideways on his lap.</p><p>“Thanks Miller, but I think Charlotte can finish her sentence.”</p><p>Bryan was the first to react; he started to laugh. </p><p>“Wow Blake, way to be dramatic.”</p><p>“Am I missing something here?” asked Clarke.</p><p>“I think that’s what we should be asking.”</p><p>“O was being a brat.” Bellamy ignored his sister’s protest. “Miller thought Charlotte might be slipping a secret crush.”</p><p>“Ah, would that be your secret crush or mine?”</p><p>He felt his face flush and was glad she could see it. “You had a secret crush on me?”</p><p>“Bellamy, are you serious?”</p><p>“A little…”</p><p>“I agree to date you, of course I had a crush on you before tonight. Tonight has been a bit busy to suddenly develop a crush.”</p><p>“You will have to excuse my brother, Clarke. He can be a bit slow on the uptake.”</p><p>“You’ve finished your sandwich, go to bed O.”</p><p>“What? You can’t just send me to bed, what if I get cramps? And you just want me to stop talking.”</p><p>“By the time you actually get to sleep you will be fine.”</p><p>“Eating before sleeping doesn’t cause problems like cramping or anything like that. Bellamy may be trying to stop you from talking but he is right about bedtime. You too Charlotte,” said Clarke.</p><p>Charlotte pouted but didn’t object.</p><p>“Just think of it as a sleepover. You girls can campout. Bellamy will help make a tent.”</p><p>“I will?”</p><p>Clarke nodded. “I have to finish my sandwich.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>“Don’t worry Bellamy, I will show you where everything is.”</p><p>“Thanks, Charlotte.” He kissed Clarke’s cheek before shifting her onto the chair and following the girls out.</p><p>He had never heard so much giggling and whispers before in his life. He doubted the girls would fall asleep anytime soon. Part of him wanted to remind Octavia about sleep schedules while the other part, the bigger part, wanted her to enjoy her happiness. He had no idea what was going to happen with Nia. He wanted her to enjoy this while she could. For the most part, he ignored their conversation but one thing caught his attention as he finished the last knots.</p><p>“So I could help?”</p><p>“No.” Bellamy cut off whatever Charlotte was going to say.</p><p>“Bellamy, don’t eavesdrop!”</p><p>“I’m not. I’m standing right here. It’s too dangerous for you to try and do anything.”</p><p>“But we messed things up, shouldn’t we try to fix it?”</p><p>“Clarke and the others, who by the way didn’t just stumble into being witches, have a plan. The best way we can help is by doing what they say. Nia is strong and scary. If Clarke and Miller aren’t able to fight her there is no way we would be able to.”</p><p>“Octavia, your brother is right, it would be too dangerous to try and do anything.” Charlotte took Octavia’s hand in hers. “Don’t worry my parents are coming and they are super strong. They will know what do to.”</p><p>Bellamy was envious of the confidence she had in her parents. He wished he had that, if even for a day.</p><p>“Fine.” Octavia pouted but didn’t argue further.</p><p>“Thank you.” He leaned down to kiss her forehead. He could tell she wasn’t too mad since she didn’t swat him away. “Goodnight you two. Please try to fall asleep  before  the sun rises.”</p><p>The girls grinned at each other but made no promises. He hadn’t really excepted them to.</p><p>When he returned to the room. Miller and Bryan had left. Clarke was curled up on the sofa looking at one of the small books Bryan had earlier.</p><p>“Where are the guys?” He asked after sitting next to Clarke. She shifted so that her feet rested in his lap.</p><p>“They went to wash the dishes but I’m sure that was just an excuse. It’s been a busy night, I think they wanted some time to themselves.” </p><p>“Yeah, that makes sense. I’m pretty sure I ruined their date night. Miller loves scary shit. I bet he had a whole much of scary movies ready just to get Byran to cuddle.”</p><p>Clarke laughed. She settled back more against the sofa. “Harper does the same thing with Monty.” Her words were slow.</p><p>“You can sleep if you want. I’ll stay up in case anything happens.”</p><p>“Bell, you don’t have to.”</p><p>He felt warm at her easy use of the nickname. “I don’t mind. I am supposed to be now anyway, I’m use to it.” He brushed his thumb across her ankle.</p><p>“Fine, but just a quick nap.” </p><p>Within a minute her breathing had evened out. He wondered if she always fell asleep that easily or if it was just because of how much she had done tonight. He let himself fantasize a little about falling asleep cuddled together or waking up with her. He smiled at the thought.</p><p>He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he noticed something moving outside of the window. Gently so not to wake her, Bellamy moved out from under Clarke’s feet. The light in the room made it a little hard to see into the backyard but someone was definitely moving across the grass. He wondered if the protections Clarke talked about extended past the house. Maybe it was just some kids trying to sneak home or play a prank. Keeping an eye on the figure he walked backward to shut off the light. The figure became clearer, especially when she moved past the lamps on the old stone wall. </p><p>All rational thought left Bellamy. He just knew that he had to stop Octavia before she made it to where she was going. Nia would drain her blood if she caught her. He couldn’t let that happened. Without stopping to wake Clarke, he did want to waste any time, he ran after his little sister.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Clarke jolted awake. She wasn’t able to take in much apart from the fact that it was dark and a surge of power just flashed against the wards. That didn’t make any sense, certainly not to her sleep muddled brain. Nia wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything against the wards, it would use up far too much power. Even if she was able to get enough blood from victims they could easily take her out. </p><p>She stretched her senses to see where everyone was in the house. She just barely felt Charlotte leave the house proper. Cursing she tried to get up, however she misjudged her position and ended up on the floor. Why had she tried to take a literal power nap? She knew it was risky since it was hard to wake quickly from it but she hadn’t figured anyone would try anything as stupid as leaving the house. It could still be okay if they stay within the property lines but she doubted that would be the case.</p><p>Her doubts were proven right by what she saw when she raced into the backyard. Charlotte was lacking behind Bryan who was sprinting to catch up with Octavia. Octavia in turn was running full out to where Bellamy was past the property line. This was all because Echo was standing just past the border with Ashe and Ontari. Clarke was sure Nia was lurking somewhere close by. Ontari lookup; she knew she had seen her from the awful smile that spread across her face.</p><p>Bryan grabbed Octavia just before she reached the edge of the wards. He pulled her toward him with enough force that Clarke was sure it hurt but she wasn’t too worried about that at the moment. A bruised arm was better than what Nia would do if she could get her hands on Octavia. Thankfully Charlotte had stopped running after Byran caught Octavia.</p><p>“Stay here,” shouted Clarke as she raced past her sister. Her reply was lost to her. She stopped right at the ward line. Bellamy was on his knees in the dirt but seemed unhurt. </p><p>“Awwww, little coward won’t come help her friends,” mocked Onatri.</p><p>“Shut up,” hissed Clarke. She kept her focus on Bellamy. While her protection on Bellamy would keep him from getting grabbed or block small magics they could still more powerful magic on him. Thankfully they hadn’t seemed to have figured that out yet. Maybe they just didn’t care to waste the power. In their schemes he wasn’t what they wanted, he was far too old to be considered a child. Even Octavia and Charlotte were pushing the edge of the qualifications. </p><p>She needed to figure out where Nia was as well as Miller. The thought that they were facing off against each other somewhere was an unwelcome one. A startled noise sounded from behind her. She turned to see Octavia running towards her brother. She was too far away to stop her from crossing the line. Chaos broke out. Clarke was forced to step out of the safety of the wards.</p><p>That was just what Ontari was waiting for. She pounced on Clarke knocking her to the ground. Her head bounced against the dirt but thankfully she didn’t blackout. The siren’s call got louder, making her head throb even more.</p><p>“Poor little Griffin. Tell me.” She pushed Clarke’s face further into the ground. She felt the pine needles cut into her face. “Will you fail to save this one as well? Shall she join Trina and Lily?”</p><p>She couldn’t speak without getting dirt into her mouth. She didn’t have much to say anyway. It didn’t matter how Onatri had found out. She had to focus on getting free. While her magic was low she still had her physical body to use. She twisted her neck to a painful degree but it gave her the leverage to bite down on Ontari's pinky. </p><p>“Ah!” Ontari pulled her hand back but Clarke didn’t loosen her bite. She used to sudden momentum to headbutt Ontari's chin. She stared at her in momentary shock. “What the hell? Are you an actual bitch?”</p><p>Clarke ignored her to tackle her towards the wards. They slammed into it. She felt the sizzle of power as it rejected Ontari. She tried to roll out of the way but Ontari’s body check her right shoulder as she was ejected from the wards. Clarke tumbled to the ground. She got up quickly, the same couldn’t be said for Ontari. Clarke knew the ward’s rejection would only last a few minutes, maybe less considering Ontari’s power level. It should still be enough to get at least Octavia back to the wards.</p><p>There was still no sign of Nia but Clarke wanted to focus on what was in front of her. Bryan and Charlotte were still behind the wards, which was good. That was two less people she had to worry about. Bryan was at the very edge, ready to grab Octavia as soon as she was close enough. Charlotte was there too. Clarke was uneasy with how close her little sister was to the edge but there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. Unfortunately, Echo was now between safety and the Blake siblings. </p><p>Clarke doubted the same tactics would work with Echo. She had lived for hundreds of years in a mainly human world. She would be less reliant on magic and more ready to fight dirty.</p><p>“Do something useful Ashe!” shouted Echo when Bellamy darted away from both of them, keeping a tight grip on Octavia. “The stupid boy got tricked by the illusion, he can’t be that hard to grab.”</p><p>Ashe was panting, Clarke could see a bunch of angry red lines on her arms, some of them had started to bleed. Between Echo’s improved appearance and Ashe’s decreased one, it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. It didn’t matter that she had tapped into the weather warning system Clarke knew that level of siren’s call took a lot of power. Ashe would be running on fumes. The only options left would be small things. Small things that Clarke’s protection would easily be able to block. She supposed Ashe could try something big but that would be tapping into her very essence. No witch in their right mind would want to do that and since Clarke knew Nia and her apprentices only care about themselves she wasn’t worried Ashe would do something reckless.</p><p>She turned her attention to Echo, she really had no idea what to do. The steady hum of the call in her ears was started to get on her nerves. She knew it wouldn't affect her like Ashe wanted but it was still distracting. Her face stung and her head was still throbbing. She knew she had very little chance of hurting Echo. Maybe she could just throw a rock at Ashe or light her skirt on fire. She had enough power to do that. </p><p>Clarke took a deep breath; on the exhaled she picture her breathe wrapping around the edge of Ashe’s skirt and bursting into flame. It works. Ashe jumped back, trying to put out the flames.</p><p>“You are so useless!” shouted Echo. “I can’t believe I wasn’t able to kill you!”</p><p>Everyone stopped and the words hung heavy in the air.</p><p>“I don’t understand.” Her skirt was still smoking but she had stopped trying to put on the remaining flames.</p><p>Echo rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t. We were never really friends idiot. Mother never cared about you. She never really wanted to keep you around. She kept you around so that when I came back fully I could finally kill you properly.”</p><p>Clarke kept her focus on Echo but she could see Bellamy inching further away to get Octavia closer to the wards.</p><p>“No,” whisper Ashe.</p><p>“Yes! Do you even know anything about blood magic?” Echo didn’t wait for an answer before she continued. “To become most powerful we blood witches have to kill someone who loves us dearly. My mother did her parents, but my dad was already dead and my mother was too important to try and kill. I don’t think my sibling ever liked me much. So I had to befriend the stupid lonely girl from a nobody witch family. So annoying.”</p><p>Clarke was glad Echo still thought like a child. Only a child, a sheltered spoiled one at that, would admit this. It was providing the perfect distraction to get Octavia safe. She saw Charlotte and Byran reading out to grabbed Octavia. Clarke held relieved when their hands connected. </p><p>“Maybe I’ll just kill you right now and kill the girls myself with the boost I will get from your stupid little heart. I don’t see why I have to wait.”</p><p>Clarke only had a second to wonder why Echo had used the plural form before her already sore head tripled in pain. A high pitched keen filled all of her senses. Tears started to fall from the intensely of it. She clapped her hands over her ears but it did little to stop the pain. She stumbled to the ground. Dirt stung into her fresh cuts. The new pain clear her senses for a moment. She saw that everyone was now past the small stone wall the surround her family’s land. She knew that was bad but she couldn’t focus on why. </p><p>She saw someone running toward them but before she could focus on who it was someone stepped on her leg. She jerked, her hand coming away from her ear. The keen got louder. An angry face loomed over her. She barely recognized it as Ontari. She knew she should move, do something. Ontari face was replaced by a heeled boot. Clarke tried to move but everything felt so heavy. The boot connected with her ribs. She felts herself gasp but couldn’t hear it. Ontari lifted her boot again but before it could make contact she was jerk away. Clarke saw that Nia was standing next to her. Even in her pain-addled mind, Clarke knew that she had to do something. Nia showing up was awful for everything. She struggled to get up but Nia didn’t pay her any more attention. Both of them walked away from her sight. Somehow that made Clarke feel even worse.</p><p>Bile rose in her throat. She manage to turn before vomiting. It burned and burned, she wondered if this would be how she died. She had to find Charlotte. She had to make sure she was back behind the wards. She had to make sure her parents had at least one child to come home to. </p><p>The keen suddenly stopped. The sudden silence was almost as painful as the noise had been. Everything still throbbed. Soft hands cupped her face. She thought about fighting them off but couldn’t make anything move.</p><p>“Your vertigo is gone.”</p><p>Soft cool relief flooded Clarke. She blinked away her tears to see Glass in front of her. The moonlight and soft glow from the lamps made her look enthralling. Clarke knew it was cause of the power she had just used but it was still confusing to her overtaxed senses.</p><p>“Sorry,” said Glass before moving away. Clarke sat up, careful to avoid her pile of sick. Once her eyes could focus normally she saw that Glass had moved on to Bellamy. She was spending longer with him than she had with Clarke. They didn’t have much time, she wanted to tell Glass to hurry. That was when she noticed that none of her other companions were there. Just her, Bellamy, and what looked like a canonic Ashe. She stood, a little unsteady on her feet. </p><p>“Charlotte!” She looked around, hoping to see her little sister. She saw no one. She stumbled over to Bellamy and Glass. With zero grace in knelt next to them. “Where is my sister? Where is everyone?”</p><p>Glass shook her head. “I don’t know. When we got here it was just you and um, Bellamy?”</p><p>Clarke was pretty sure where everyone else had gone. She looked at Bellamy who still looked confused. She dread when he would be coherent. If she hadn’t already been sick she would be again. It made sense why Octavia would be taken she couldn’t figure out why the others would be too. She didn’t think she would be able to figure it out even if her brain didn’t feel rattled. She longed to sit in a fire pit but she knew they didn’t have the time for that.</p><p>Bellamy stood abruptly, nearly stepping on her. She scrambled up as well </p><p>“Octavia!” His eyes wildly scanned the area. She saw his posture change when they landed on Ashe. He stormed over to her and yanked her up. “Where is my sister?”</p><p>Ashe didn’t answer. Clarke saw his fists tighten. She was sure he was going to shake her.</p><p>“Bellamy stop!” She rushed over to him. Glass was close behind. Up close she could see the tense line of his jaw. She could almost smell how scared he was. She was scared for her sister and Charlotte wasn’t even in as much danger. Nor did she have the same history of having to literally keep her sister alive. </p><p>“Bellamy, we can’t focus on Ashe right now. She isn’t part of this anymore. We need to go after Nia.”</p><p>“She helped them, even screaming let them get away.” His voice was rough and tight.</p><p>“Clare do I need to…” Glass trailed off.</p><p>Clarke shook her head. Glass had to use more power when the person was resistant to what she was asking. She didn’t want anyone to waste any power tonight.</p><p>“Bellamy, please. Ashe is hurt and drain. She used her own essence. She isn’t a threat to anyone right now. Nia will take Octavia and the other to where she tried to do this last time. We know where that is. We can get there.”</p><p>Bellamy shoved Ashe away. She stumbled but stayed standing.</p><p>“Ashe,” Clarke spoke softly. “We will stop them. We have to stop them from draining the last child of the families. That will stop Echo from coming after you too.” Clarke ignored how Ashe flinched at the mention of Echo. “It would be very nice if you could help us. But if you can’t that okay too. Glass is going to stay with you.”</p><p>Clarke lead Bellamy away.</p><p>“Where did they take O?”</p><p>“Nia’s old homestead.”</p><p>“Isn’t that the museum?”</p><p>“Yeah, sort of. There an older building further into the woods. That’s the real place. They built the museum and moved all the pieces after nothing could be destroyed. Our ancestors hoped moving the items would lessen or stop their power.” Clarke snorted. “Obviously, they were wrong.”</p><p>Bellamy’s hand wrapped around hers. She could feel him trembling. </p><p>“I don’t care if it’s a lie, please tell me we aren’t going to be too late. please tell me we can save her.”</p><p>“We can save her. That isn’t a lie. Miller is with her. He can keep her safe. He can keep them safe.”</p><p>Bellamy let out a shaky breath. He glanced at her and his eyes widen. “Shit, Clarke. I’m sorry. I never asked if you were okay.” He gently cupped her face. </p><p>“It looks worse than it is.”</p><p>“That’s still not comforting. Do we need to make a fire?”</p><p>Clarke shook her head. “We don’t have time. It’s all superficial. We need to get to the homestead.” She left out the fact that she had no idea what to do once they got there. </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Miller hated Halloween. Always has, always will, especially after tonight. It was a struggle to keep Bryan against him as he wrapped his sweater around his head in a makeshift turban. He kissed Bryan’s cheek before reluctantly letting him go. Bryan went right back to bouncing his head against the wall. Thankfully he wasn't not putting a lot of force behind it so the sweater should offer enough protection. There just isn’t a way for him to be able to look after the girls and his boyfriend at the same time. He glared at the three witches across the room. He was sure that was their plan. He could only hope that as a non-witch Bryan won’t interest them too much. Octavia was definitely in more danger.</p>
<p>He turned to the girl in question. Silent tears were running down her face. Miller knew that they are more likely from anger than fear, at least for now. He would do everything he can to keep her from crying in fear.</p>
<p>“Hey, O.” He scotched a little closer. O didn’t look at him but Charlotte did. “We’re figure something out, don’t worry.”</p>
<p>“I just wanted to help Bellamy.”</p>
<p>Miller said nothing, he just rubbed her back. Bellamy was currently on his shitlist. He couldn’t believe Bellamy had fallen for the illusion. If only he had checked with Clarke she would have been able to tell him that Octavia was still safe inside. Granted he properly would have done the same if he thought Octavia really was in trouble so he couldn’t be too mad. Though he suppose that least Ashe was no longer an issue. Unless of course, she can back full of righteous fury. Her last power outburst had messed them all up so she wouldn’t be much help if she showed up.</p>
<p>Nia turned towards them and Miller tensed. She seemed to notice since she smirked at him. He wasn’t sure what to do. He could feel the power pulsing from the line of blood drawn around them. It kept them trapped in the corner of the cabin. He was in the middle of trying to figure out if he could just blast away the wall they were by when Nia turned her attention away from them. Somehow that didn’t make him feel better. They had already been here for at least ten minutes, she really should have tried something by now.</p>
<p>He glanced around the room again. Echo was pouting. It still unnerved him that she looked and acted so young. Ontari was picking apart a small animal for apparently no reason. That really didn’t help his nerves. His father always said the tenser the situation the more focused they were able to get; it was a side effect of their power manifestation. He would be ready for whenever the witches set their plan into motion. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>They had left the car closer to the museum. The ground was uneven here and while the car could have made it Clarke didn’t want to give Nia an extra warning time. That is if she didn’t already know that they were here. A few minutes later they came across a clearing. An old stone house stood out in the middle. Clarke supposed Nia didn’t really didn't have the need to hide. She stopped Bellamy from walking closer to the house when she felt the wards.</p>
<p>It didn’t surprise her that there were wards, what surprised her was that they weren’t spelled to keep anything out. They weren’t spelled to keep anything in either. In fact, she couldn’t tell at all what they were for.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” whispered Bellamy.</p>
<p>“I don’t know but things aren’t lining up.”</p>
<p>He huffed in annoyance. "Of course they aren't."</p>
<p>"Bellamy..."</p>
<p>“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at everything else, especially Roan. Where is that stupid cat?”</p>
<p>“Still not a cat.”</p>
<p>They both jumped and turned toward where his voice had come from. Bellamy stepped in front of her when they saw that three people were with Roan. She didn’t point out that she was more worried about Nia in the house behind them than the new strangers. They were with Roan and unless Roan had been playing the very very long game the people with him wouldn’t be a threat.</p>
<p>The clearing became brighter when the moon broke through the clouds. Clarke was able to recognize the woman. While she hadn’t talked to her very often she had seen her enough around Murphy to know who Emori was. The man standing close to her she had seen pick her up or drop her off so she knew it was Emori’s brother Otan. Someone that Murphy liked to complain about a lot. She didn’t know the very tall, very broad man who stood at Emori’s other side.</p>
<p>“Hey, Emori.”</p>
<p>“Roan told us about the conga line of stupid from early tonight so we figured you need competent help,” said Emori in lieu of a greeting. The tall man glanced disapproving at Emori before stepping forward.</p>
<p>“I’m Lincoln. Roan told us that you lot have run into some trouble and that you may need extra help.”</p>
<p>“Are you part of Clarke’s family groups?”</p>
<p>Otan snorted but didn’t say anything.</p>
<p>“No,” answered Lincoln, “we came here after the founding of this current town, from different families and practices. This is good because Nia will not except us or our magics.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, she’s a big old racist on magic rules and probably people too.” Emori shrugged. “So do we have a game plan or are we just winging it? Please say the first one, winging it is bad.”</p>
<p>“She’s excepting us so Bellamy and I will go first. Roan can come too. Wait till they are distracted with us and come in. We need to focus on getting the girls out, especially Octavia. She’s the dark-haired one. Nia needs her blood to complete the soul transference binding.”</p>
<p>Emori made a face. “You guys are so fucked up.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s us.” Clarke looked around. “Everyone good with that plan?”</p>
<p>“That’s hardly a plan but sure.” Emori motioned to the Otan and Lincoln. All three stepped away from them and blended into the night. Even with the full moon, Clarke found it hard to focus on them. Hopefully, Nia would have the same problem.</p>
<p>“Clarke, that can’t be the whole plan what else are you going to do?”</p>
<p>“Bellamy, right now we just have to focus on keeping Nia from getting Octavia’s blood. She seems to be focused on that most of all. We don’t know what else she had planned and even if we did there isn’t much we can do to stop her. We have to wait till the masters arrive. We have to stall and try not to die.”</p>
<p>“Great,” Bellamy grumbled.</p>
<p>“Now there are some wards but I can’t tell what they are for. They might just be a warning bell. I don’t have any way around them so as soon as we cross they will most likely know. So I guess we just go through the front door.”</p>
<p>“That’s an even worse plan, it’s not even a plan.”</p>
<p>“It’s all we got. I’m counting on Nia being a horrid sadist and wanting us there to see what she does to our sisters.” Clarke heard Bellamy’s huff of breath like he was trying not to cry. She reached out of his hand. “We won’t let that happen.”</p>
<p>“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Ready?”</p>
<p>“No, but let’s go. We can’t waste any more time.”</p>
<p>Clarke didn’t bother wasting magic on trying to be sneaky. She had too little to spare and if she was right they already knew they are coming. She just hoped that Emori and the others will go unnoticed. She looked around for Roan, seeing he had disappeared again. It unnerved her a little, she hoped he wasn’t part of Nia’s plans. He had gone to get help so she doubted it. However, it would still be nice to know where he was.</p>
<p>She saw movement along the roof. It was Roan, he crouched down near a broken window. He peered inside but didn’t move. Trusting that he would warn them if the witches inside moved to attack she lead Bellamy to the door. She didn’t feel any magic on it. She looked up at Roan who nodded once. His muscled bunched up. At the same time he leaped inside she pushed open the door.</p>
<p>It was eerily peaceful inside. Miller, Bryan, and the girls seemed unharmed; though Bryan was banging his wrapped head against the wall. Ontari looked at her with a wicked grin but Nia seemed completely uninterested in their entrance. She was focused on her son.</p>
<p>“Finally come to pay a visit to your mother?” asked Nia.</p>
<p>“Don’t do this.”</p>
<p>Nia sighed. “You always were such a contrary child.”</p>
<p>Clarke didn’t like this at all. Echo and Ontari hadn’t moved. Nia seemed more interested in holding a conversation with her son than their sudden arrival. Ignoring the conversation she glanced over at Miller. He was tense and ready to go but there was nothing to do. Something was very wrong. Still, she couldn’t do nothing so she started to move towards her trapped friends. No one moved to stop her, which was so much worse than if someone had tried.</p>
<p>Up close she saw the dark blood spread across the floor. That must be what was keeping them trapped. It also seemed to keep sound from getting out. She could see Octavia’s lips moving but didn’t hear anything. Clarke didn’t have a hope in removing it. Maybe that’s why no one moved to stop her, it would be pointless. She looked at Ontari who was now looking very smug. She supposed that look answered her question.</p>
<p>“Would you like to join them?” Ontari nodded to Bellamy. “Your beau seems ready to leap across the blood. Though that would be a very bad idea. At least for him. I would enjoy watching that very much.”</p>
<p>Bellamy didn’t take his eyes off of Octavia but he flipped Ontari the bird.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what that means. Not that I care.” She locked eyes with Clarke and started to walk towards them. “You know we already have your sister. I don’t see the need to keep you around. You fight dirty, it’s poor sportsmanship."</p>
<p>“I really don’t care what you think.”</p>
<p>“But there’s aren’t any tricks to help you here.” Ontari keeping going like Clarke hadn’t even spoken. “Your Beau is useless here. However, blood is blood. Let us have his and will let you live. I’m sure the all might Griffin clan wants the line to continue. No sense in losing two heirs tonight.”</p>
<p>Clarke bristled at the implication of what would happen to Charlotte. She hoped the soundproofing went both ways. Bellamy stepped in front of her. She could barely see Ontari tilt her head to the side, unimpressed.</p>
<p>“Ontari, stopping playing with the ingredients.” Nia’s cool voice cut through the room. Ontari walked back over to Nia.</p>
<p>“Let my sister go,” growled Bellamy.</p>
<p>Nia looked unimpressed. “You and my useless son must get along well.” She turned her attention back to Clarke. “You look tense child. Is something the matter?”</p>
<p>“Of course there is.”</p>
<p>Nia laughed. “But you can’t figure out what that is, can you? Are you thinking and thinking with your little brain but can’t figure it out? Poor dear.”</p>
<p>Clarke totally wanted to punch her in the face. Despite the fact that she hadn’t moved she felt the wooden slats under her feet shift just the slightest bit. She willed herself not to react or look back. She glared at Nia, mainly to see if she had noticed anything. It didn’t look like she had. The next time it happened she was ready.</p>
<p>The floor lunched under all of them. Clarke uses the momentary confusion to launch herself at Echo. Out of everyone here she seemed to be the one Nia actually cared about. Voices explored behind her. She heard her sister calling for her but she didn’t look back. She had to trust that the others would get her out to safety.</p>
<p>Echo was around the same size as her so it was easy to tackle her to the ground. Echo shouted and grabbed at her. Everyone they touched sparked with pain. Instinctively Clarke rolled away. Blinking tears from her eyes she saw that the other three had joined them. The battle had finally started. Even though they outnumbered Nia and her crew they were still at a disadvantage. Octavia and Charlotte needed to get out of there. Bryan had no magic and Bellamy didn’t know how to use his. He was more likely to hurt one of his own as he was to hurt one of the enemy.</p>
<p>Thankfully Emori seemed to have enough raw energy to hold them back. They had almost had it to the door when Ontari blocked their path. Clarke staggered up to try and help them but Echo came at her again. She had to focus just on staying one step ahead of her. She moved closer to the lit fireplace. If all else failed she could try just shoving Echo into the hearth. She wasn’t sure what it would do to a body like Echo but she knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.</p>
<p>A ringing started in her ears. It only took a second for her to realize it was because a noise had stopped, not started. Ashe’s siren call was gone. Relief fulled Clarke. Ashe, while maybe not fully on their side had at least helped end their secondary problem. Soon the other witches from the families would be here. Even without being masters with everyone working together, it would certainly be enough to hold them. She dodged another stab of magic from Echo. Her eyes caught on Nia. She looked far too pleased with herself and that worried Clarke. It would make more sense for her to be at least annoyed that the siren's call was gone. It worried her so much that she forgot to move for a few seconds. She braced herself for the pain of Echo’s next attack but it never came. She looked at the girl. Echo had her raw magic jumping between her fingers but she made no move towards Clarke.</p>
<p>Clarke glanced around the room again. Otan had fallen but she could see that he was still breathing. Even though Nia was near him she made no move to finish the job or even drain his blood. Emori had left the others to get to her brother. Nia easily evaded her attack and toss one back at her. Clarke could tell it was weak, it only made Emori stagger a few steps back. Ontari seemed to be the only one actively trying to take anyone out. It was all wrong.</p>
<p>She felt the increased presence of witches. Nia's smile chilled Clarke to the bones. Finally, it all clicked. The reason why no one was dealing killing blows. The reason why they had been able to reach the cabin. The reason that not only Octavia was taken. Nia wanted them all here. She wanted the old families to be here, on land soaked with her power. Clarke didn’t know for what or why but she knew Nia was going to drain them all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clarke felt so stupid. They had all walked right into a trap. This was why they weren’t supposed to do anything, why they were supposed to wait for the masters. Masters actually knew what they were doing. It was all a moot point now. Clarke had to do something, anything. This house was the center of her power. At the very least she needed to get everyone out of it.</p>
<p>She let Echo get closer and when she did she made a grab for her. She ignored the pain that shot up her arms to push Echo into the heath. She didn’t stick around to see if her plan had worked. Instead, she ran to where Bryan was dragging Otan, who had started to awaken, away while Emori focused on Nia.</p>
<p>“Bryan, did you find anything on how to hold her?”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t find anything that specific to Nia, just that she could be taken out like any other powerful thing. I don’t doubt that the elders would be able to do it but that doesn’t help our current situation. I suppose we could try to purify the surrounding area but I don’t know what good that will do.”</p>
<p>“Byzantine…” muttered Clarke more to herself than him.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I have a plan. Just help get everyone out of here.”</p>
<p>“Ontari is still blocking the door. I feel like they are trying to bottleneck us.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, probably but I will work on something. Just stay with the others.”</p>
<p>Bryan looked like he wanted to argue but he just shook his head. “Don’t do anything stupid. I’d rather not have seven people out to kill me.”</p>
<p>“It’s too late to not to do anything stupid.” She turned her attention to Emori, who had been joined by Lincoln, and Nia. Nia looked annoyed but not worried. That didn’t surprised Clarke.</p>
<p>“Nia, you’re outnumbered.”</p>
<p>“You think you are a clever girl but inside or out it does not matter where they are. I like the numbers you have,” said Nia. Her momentary distraction let Emori land a blow. Nia's face clouded in fury. She flicked both of her hands at Emori. Ten long gashes appeared on her face and neck. Lincoln caught her before she fell to the ground.</p>
<p>“Than we are the same!” Clarke stepped forward, wanting to take Nia’s focus away from Emori. “You wanted all of the nine families here tonight for whatever but you will never have them. The Radcliffes are gone.”</p>
<p>There was a cold laugh. Clarke glanced over. Echo and join Ontari, which would explain why she hadn’t come after her. Everyone was still near the door. Ontari started to speak but Clarke was more focused on Miller. She longed to look at Bellamy to make sure he was alright but she need Miller to understand the vague clue she had just given. He nodded to her, she hoped it was enough.</p>
<p>“You’re just not as clever as you think you are.”</p>
<p>Clarke wasn’t sure what Ontari was referring to exactly but she didn’t care. She didn’t resist the urge to roll her eyes. “That’s already been said.”</p>
<p>Ontari moved faster than any of them. Clarke could tell Ontari was coming at her she put up a manor barrier to make sure whatever she was going to do wouldn’t kill her. Her focus was by the door. With Ontari gone Miller overpowered Echo. She banged against something invisible that keep her from reaching the others. Cracks were appearing in the air around her. Miller flinched every time but he was holding strong. Bellamy shoved everyone else out the door. Good, one less thing to worry about. Ontari slammed into Clarke. The second they collided her barrier broke.</p>
<p>“One of your Radcliffes wasn’t a careful as he should have been.” That was news to Clarke. It wasn’t the worse thing that Ontari could have said because she still had one thing left that Nia and the others didn’t seem to know. She was going to hold off on that till the last possible moment. She just needed to get everyone of the cabin first.</p>
<p>Ontari drew a blade under Clarke’s chin. She lifted the small golden blade forward so that Clarke could see her blood dripping off of it. “Your’s and your sister’s blood reeks of it.”</p>
<p>“Clarke!”</p>
<p>She heard Bellamy’s shout but ignored it. She couldn’t afford to look at him now. She felt her own blood drip onto her face. There were no more shouts so she figured Miller had dragged Bellamy out. Emori and Lincoln were still inside as far as she knew.</p>
<p>An explosion of pain stopped her train of thought. Ontari plunged the blade into her shoulder. Thankfully it was short but that didn’t lessen the pain. She couldn’t help the scream that burst out of her. It only seemed to please Ontari more. Clarke wrapped her hand around Ontari’s wrist. She couldn’t let her pull it out. She channeled her power to heat up the hilt as well as her hand. Ontari hissed and clambered off of her.</p>
<p>She turned her attention back to Nia who seemed completely content to not press her advantage on Emori. Clarke figured that since Emori wasn’t part of the nine families she need she was beneath her notice. As long as Emori wasn’t attacking her there was no need to bother her. Or maybe she liked to see her apprentice stab people more.</p>
<p>Ontari started towards her again but Nia held up her hand.</p>
<p>“Don’t waste your power. We will need it for when the masters arrive.” She turned a wicked smile to Clarke. “Now Clarke do you wish to be first? While I could use you for both Griffin and Radcliffe blood I’d rather kill both of you. As eldest, I shall give you the honor of the mantle of Griffin.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter. You still don’t have nine bloodlines.”</p>
<p>Nia shook her head. “Your delay tacts will no longer work. It doesn’t matter how if they start running now, I have all of you. Your elders can free you but by then all of you will be nothing but husks.”</p>
<p>“Radcliffes aren’t the missing blood.”</p>
<p>“Stop before this becoming even more pathetic. All the nine bloodlines still flow.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Clarke wanted to laugh but it would be too painful with a blade in her. “I’m not saying they didn’t. One just doesn’t believe anymore. I’m pretty sure she still in Massachusetts right now. I don’t think MIT takes a break for Halloween.”</p>
<p>“Lies,” hissed Nia.</p>
<p>“No lies. The avian witches are not here. Though they still have bird names, which is kind of funny if you think about it.”</p>
<p>“Nothing about this is humorous.”</p>
<p>“True. You can drain us all and you still won’t have the nine. You let the Blakes get away too. Your plans won’t work.” Clarke worried that she might be rubbing it in too far but she needed Nia to lose control.</p>
<p>“One substitution is permitted.” Nia started towards her. Clarke readies herself but at the last second Nia turned and grabbed onto Ontari.</p>
<p>“My queen?”</p>
<p>The words had barely left Ontari’s mouth with she stiffed. Her cheeks hollowed out, skin became thin and warped around her bones. Clarke’s brain couldn’t figure out what had happened for a moment but then it all clicked. She wanted to vomit. Nia had turned her power against her very own. Ontari was being drained of all her blood. All that would be left was a husk.</p>
<p>“A pity, I suppose I should have kept Ashe around a little longer. It’s such a shame to have to use you like this.”</p>
<p>Clarke didn’t wait for Nia to finish. She ran over to Emori. Blood still seeped from most of the gashes. Lincoln had managed to stop the bleeding on the most deadly ones, they now angry red lines.</p>
<p>“Emori I need you to bind Nia in as much Lucien Pine as possible.”</p>
<p>Thankfully Emori didn’t question why. “Do it have to be Lucien?”</p>
<p>“It would be ideal but any pine would do.”</p>
<p>“I can’t do Lucien right now. I’m too weak right now and we are too far north.”</p>
<p>“That’s fine. I just need pine.”</p>
<p>Emori took a deep breath before placing her hands on the ruined floor. Clarke kept her eyes on Nia. She needed to do this as soon as Nia was bond. It would be better if she was closer but she couldn’t risk alerting Nia.</p>
<p>“Clarke, what are you doing?” asked Lincoln.</p>
<p>She didn’t look at him, she couldn’t. “The pine will help the Byzantine Fire catch.”</p>
<p>“Clarke…” His voice was dangerously soft. It almost made her cry.</p>
<p>She was saved from answering when the wood shot up from the ground. The second Clarke saw it she ran to Nia. Nia was cursing at the wood and didn’t notice Clarke till it was too late to stop her. She wrapped herself around the first layer of wood. She felt more pine wrap around them. Clarke didn’t wait to see how much wood Emori would wrap around them. She had already begun. She didn’t bother starting small, she only had a narrow timeframe to be able to get this to work. Her flames started fast, hot, and all-consuming.</p>
<p>The wood had no blood for Nia to manipulate. She clawed at Clarke's arm but no blood came away. Only flame flickers from the cuts. Clarke could see, could feel Nia’s skin cracking. Even with Nia pulling Ontari’s blood into herself to try and heal the damage Clarke didn’t let up. She pushed the flames further and faster. She could feel it lick through her veins. She could feel it peeling away the layers of protection, of life, that Nia had placed around herself. Not even a corrupted blood witch could hold off the flames of Byzantine for long.</p>
<p>Most people saw fire this hot as white. So did Clarke at first, but it soon turned to violet. That’s when she knew it had worked, Nia had nothing left to fight against the flames. The inextinguishable fire consumed the witch. Clarke felt its warmth spread across her. She didn’t bother trying to fight it, she knew there would be no point. Her eyes stung as if she was about to cry but she had no water left, only fire.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bellamy had never felt more useless in his life. Not even when his mother was laying dying did he feel like this. At least then he had been his own choice to do nothing. He had reminded himself over and over again that he wouldn't be much help inside. He had to trust Emori and Lincoln would be enough. Miller said Clarke had a plan. He had to trust all of them.</p>
<p>Octavia trembled in his arms. He wished he still had his coat. Logically he knew she wasn’t trembling from the cold but it would have let him felt like he was doing something. He looked over to where Miller and two people he didn’t know had Echo locked in a barrier. At least that’s what he thought it was. He couldn't hear her but he could tell she was screaming at them.</p>
<p>Charlotte sniffled so he turned his attention to her. Someone called Wells was currently holding her just like he was with O. Clarke had mentioned him once or twice and he did look familiar but he wasn’t sure who he was.</p>
<p>Some more people he didn’t know were walking around the border that none of them seemed to be able to cross. Even with his limited exposure to magic, he could feel the heavy pressure in the air from it.</p>
<p>Murphy let out a series of swears. Usually, Bellamy would yell at him for saying that so close to O but he couldn’t bring himself to at the moment. Besides Murphy’s expression looked as desperate as he felt. He was leaning heavily on a taller guy since his leg was badly hurt. Murphy’s injury seemed to be the worse of whatever had happened to the people protecting the town. He was thankful that no one had been maimed or died because of him.</p>
<p>Almost everyone turned towards the cabin. He wondered if they were noticing something he couldn’t. Before he could put O fully behind him two figures stumbled out. He wasn’t able to place them right away. Murphy could since he started to hobble run to them. The woman, who was named Emori if he remembered correctly, ran to him as well. She was much fast so she reached him before he got very far. The balls of light someone had set up to float around passed over her. He stiffened when he saw the blood on her face and chest. That was nothing to how Murphy reacted.</p>
<p>“Maya!” He shouted, his voice edged with panic. A dark-haired woman came running. The commotion had gotten the attention of Charlotte to peak up from where her face was buried in Wells’ side. She too ran up to Emori. Wells hurried after her. They were just far away enough that Bellamy couldn’t make out what they were saying.</p>
<p>Something started to glow within the cabin. Soon the light started to flicker like it was firelight. Bellamy panicked before remembering what Clarke could do. She was best with fire, she had even told him fire couldn’t hurt her. He had only just calmed down when Charlotte turned to Wells. She tugged on him and pushed him towards the cabin. He knelt to her level. He took her hands in his hands but she shoved him off. She tried to move past him towards the cabin. He stopped her. She tried to pull away but Wells won’t let go. Charlotte slipped; she didn’t bother trying to stop herself. Instead, she collapsed sobbing onto the grass. Wells placed a hand on her shoulder only to have her shrugged it off. Wells didn’t try to touch her again but he didn’t move from her side.</p>
<p>All of this happened in maybe a few seconds but it felt like an eternity to Bellamy. It was like his brain couldn’t quite process what was happening. Charlotte was inconsolable on the ground he knew that could only mean one thing but it was like he refused to process it.</p>
<p>“Big Brother?” It was O’s quiet, almost scared voice that snapped him out of.</p>
<p>He started forward but stopped. If it was what he refused to think about he didn’t want his little sister to be right there. He looked around to see Glass nearby. Thankfully she noticed him too and he was able to wave her own.</p>
<p>“Can you please keep an eye on my sister?”</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>“Bellamy!”</p>
<p>He knelt down to speak to Octavia. “I need to find out what is happening. I will be right back.”</p>
<p>Her eyes glisten with tears but she only nodded. He stood and walked slowly over. He couldn’t remember the last time he had focused so hard on keeping his pace even. Murphy was hovering over Emori but Bellamy was more interested in Lincoln. He seemed focused on Murphy but his attention fixed on Bellamy when he got closer.</p>
<p>He tried to remember if he had told Lincoln his name or not.</p>
<p>“Bellamy.”</p>
<p>Well, he knew his name anyway. “Where’s Clarke?”</p>
<p>“Clarke stayed behind-”</p>
<p>“You left her?”</p>
<p>“No, she chose to stay to stop Nia. She used purifying fire known as Byzantine Fire.”</p>
<p>That confused Bellamy. As far as he knew that was an ancient sea-faring weapon. “Will that be enough? Does she need help?”</p>
<p>“The point of Byzantine is that it can incinerate anything if it is used enough. Clarke is hoping that Nia can only resist it so much or for so long. Even if she can’t defeat Nia it should be long enough to hold her off till your elders come.”</p>
<p>“That doesn’t let me know if she needs help.”</p>
<p>“Emori did everything she could but we can’t help her without getting caught in the fire.”</p>
<p>“But she can’t right?” He glanced at Charlotte who was still inconsolable on the ground. “I saw her in fire before, it doesn’t hurt her.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know the specifics.” He paused just long enough that Bellamy wasn’t sure he believed him.</p>
<p>“Bellamy.”</p>
<p>He turned to Murphy. He had his arm wrapped around Emori just like she had her arm wrapped around him. It was hard to tell who was holding up who. Bellamy felt the sting of envy.</p>
<p>“What?” He gritted out.</p>
<p>Murphy sighed. “Byzantine Fire is crazy powerful so it takes a crazy powerful witch to keep it channeled property. Otherwise, the fire consumes them as well. Even if she wasn’t drained from today that’s not Clarke’s power level.”</p>
<p>Murphy kept talking but Bellamy couldn’t make out the words with the rushing that started in his head. He turned back to the cabin. The fire was large and burning white. He told himself that his eyes were stinging from the brightness of the flames. He couldn't bring himself to acknowledge why else he would be crying. Before he knew what he was doing he had stepped closer to the cabin. A strong immoveable arm blocked his path. He didn’t need to look to know it was Lincoln. He knew that Lincoln could stop him, magically or physically. Instead, he just kept looking ahead at the burning cabin.</p>
<p>He lasted barely a minute before he started to cry. He didn’t breakdown on the grass like Charlotte. There were too many years of making himself cry without making a sound to let that happen so he just focused on the flames. Maybe it was stupid, maybe it didn’t matter but he would stand vigil till the flames ended. He would keep an eye on whatever was left of her. That thought let his sorrow turn to angry. Bellamy didn’t care if fire is what is saving them all right now, he hated the heat and light of it. Still, it didn't come close to how much he hated himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The flames had burned away to red ashes. Only part of the stone walls remained; just enough that Bellamy could fool himself into thinking that Clarke was still okay. That she was still alive and would walk out at any moment. She would be covered in soot and Bellamy would gently brush it away before pulling her close. However, that was nothing but a fantasy. One that caused his chest to tighten painfully till he almost couldn’t breathe.</p><p>Headlights shone against the cabin. That's when Bellamy noticed he hadn’t been aware of any noises or anything really since he had talked to Murphy. He turned to the lights. Before the car had even come to a complete stop a woman got out from the passenger's side. It was Abby Griffin. His heart sank, he had no idea how he was going to explain to her what happen. How he had basically lead to the events that lost her her daughter.</p><p>Abby Griffin ran straight to Charlotte who had stopped crying but was still on the ground. The moment she saw her mother she started to cry again. Abby gathered her close just as a tall man knelt down next to them. He placed on hand on Charlotte’s shaking back. Bellamy assumed that was Mr. Griffin. Wells spoke to them in hushed tones but Bellamy knew what he must be saying. He turned away, unable to look at them when they discovered the truth. From the corner of his eye, he saw Clarke’s father run into the cabin. Bellamy felt sick again, he had no idea if there would be anything left of Clarke if the fire was supposed to incinerate everything. He stood tense, ready for when the Griffins descend on him with accusations. It didn’t what they did to him, he deserves all of it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It felt so warm, at least that was the closest thing to what could be understood. Thoughts came and went, nothing really stuck. A word that was special, a word that help with identity flowed just past recollection. Did it need to be recalled? Or would it chase away the soft perfect feeling of this space?</p><p>“Kiddo.”</p><p>No, that wasn’t the word. It was special, it made a different sort of contentless appear but it’s wasn’t the special word.</p><p>“I need you to remember, Kiddo.”</p><p>Remember? what was forgotten? The voice sounded…not content. It was unpleasant. The voice should join the warmth, that would make everything better.</p><p>“Oh! Hey, hey, let’s not do that.”</p><p>Do what? At least the voice had changed.</p><p>“I want you to remember something for me Kiddo, okay?”</p><p>Remember? That seemed hard to do at the moment.</p><p>“You braided Charlotte’s hair today. She was so excited that you were home. Can you remember how you did it?”</p><p>Charlotte? That word was an important one. Soft hair passed through fingers, a sweet voice hummed a song. The words of the song slipped away but the voice stayed. The voice belonged to a smiling face. A small face that she wanted to keep safe. A little sister. A heavy feeling started but it wasn’t unpleasant.</p><p>“Yes.” The voice sounded happy even though it wasn’t in the warmth. “Last summer you spend the days on the beach with your friends. Do you remember who was there the last time you went?”</p><p>Beach, where the water met the earth. There was little room for fire there. The thought had barely formed when a large bonfire came to mind. It lit up the night. Happy voices filled the air; one deep voice was close to her. That voice was nice, it was more familiar than all the others. A feeling of being lifted, but that didn’t make any sense. There was nothing to lift. The heaviness increased, it still didn’t hurt but it was confusing.</p><p>“You’re almost there Kiddo.”</p><p>Kiddo was nice but it wasn’t the right word. What was the right word? Longing to know filled and replaced the warmth, warmth that had started to be unpleasant.</p><p>“Now there was one free day mom and I have before university started. All four of us wanted to spend it together.”</p><p>Mom, that was an important word. The voice hadn’t asked to remember but thoughts started to flow back.</p><p>“You woke up before Charlotte. You came into our bedroom and sat between us. Charlotte came in not ten minutes later. She sat against you.”</p><p>A memory of a soft pressure caused the heaviness to increase.</p><p>“We talked about everything and nothing. You talked about how some of the classes seemed like they would be boring, but you were looking forward to the labs. Mom laughed at that, saying something never changed.”</p><p>The distant sounds of the laugh came to mind. That laugh was nice, it would be nice to hear it again.</p><p>“Soon our tummies started to grumble.”</p><p>Hunger, when that happened it meant you needed food. You?What, who was you?</p><p>“So we all when to the kitchen. You and I worked on making waffles while your mother and sister work on the fruit. We didn’t notice till the end but Charlotte had convinced your mom to cut them up into shapes. She insisted that it would taste better that way.”</p><p>The sweet juice from the fruit and the fluffy fullness of the waffles came to mind.</p><p>“You loved that morning. Your mother and sister were washing the dishes when you pulled me aside. You wrapped your arms tight around me.”</p><p>A hug, that was a hug. Longing chased away the warmth from before. The warmth from a hug would be so much better than the warmth of now.</p><p>“You thanked me for having the idea to have such a wonderful morning.”</p><p>Me? No, that wasn’t the right word for the voice.</p><p>“Please come back to us.” The voice sounded so sad.</p><p>This time there was no desire to bring the voice into the warmth. Instead, there was an all-consuming desire to comfort the voice, do give the voice a hug like before.</p><p>“Clarke.” The voice broke.</p><p>That was the right word, her word. Clarke.</p><p>“Clarke?” The voice sounded far happier.</p><p>The voice wasn’t the right word. It was supposed to be Dad, her dad. The one who was always there for her. Far more than any warmth would ever be. The heaviness increased till she, Clarke, gasped.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Clarke became extremely aware of her body. Everything about it hurt, she wanted to shave her head to relieve some of the pressure on her skull. She had no idea if it worked that way but it seemed like a good idea.</p><p>“Clarke, sweetheart…please open your eyes.”</p><p>Clarke did. She saw her father staring down at her. Tears glistened in his eyes. He smiled at her causing his tears fell.</p><p>“Dad?” her voice sound hoarse but she couldn’t figure out why. Everything was super fuzzy. She tried to sit up but struggled.</p><p>“Hey, hey, I’ve got you.” He carefully sat her up. She lean against him. His heart was beating fast but when she looked up at him he was calm.</p><p>“Dad?” She looked around. She was in a burned-out stone cabin. The cabin was old but she could tell it had recently been burnt. That couldn’t have been her, could it? She had never lost control of the fire, even when she had first started out.</p><p>“You’re good, everything is good.” She felt him shift a bit. A warm coat, his coat, wrapped around her. She hadn’t been feeling cold, but it made her feel safe.</p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p>“That lot happened but it can all wait. We need to get you to Mom, have her check you all out.”</p><p>That didn’t make much sense, but Clarke trusted her dad more than anything so she just nodded. He lifted her up and she rested her head against his shoulder.</p><p>The rest of the evening passed in a blur, the details remained as fuzzy as what had happened in the cabin before she woke up. She did remember her mom’s cool hands cupping her face. Her little sister’s small hands clasped her hand tight. The voices surrounded hers. She could feel the powers of the master in the clearing. It had all worked; they were safe now. The little sisters would be safe. She puzzled over the pluralization that her thoughts gave to little sisters. She knew it was important. Just like she knew someone important was missing. Her mind was too fuzzy and felt too strange from being shoved back into the confines of a body for her to think long about it. She gave in smoothing words of her mom and let herself rest.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The one good thing about briefly forgetting she had a human shape and wasn’t just fire is that it got her out of any of the clean up following Halloween. After a lecture about her alarming disregard of self-preservation, she had mainly been left alone to recover. All she had to do was sleep on and off for nearly a week.</p><p>While the elders of nine families knew that the Azgeda Witches had returned they hadn’t excepted the extend of Nia’s grabs for power. With everything taken into consideration, it was surprising that there wasn’t a worse body count or damages. If Clarke wasn’t counted among the injured Murphy and Emori were the ones who had been hurt the worse. They were easy to patch up. Thankfully Ashe’s siren call had the added side effect of having people not remember anything. Some were concerned that Ashe had disappeared but Clarke wasn't too worried about it. All in all, Clarke was amazed at how quickly everything settled down.</p><p>Bellamy couldn’t really be punished. While what he had done wasn’t very smart, he didn’t know witches or the curse was real. Also, no one really wanted to punish him. Anyone who knew him even a little bit could tell he was punishing himself more than enough.</p><p>Of course, being on what amounted to essentially bedrest didn’t stop her parade of friends and fellow witches from stopping by to visit.</p><p>Wells was currently reading to her one of the required chapters from the classes she was missing. It was super boring but she appreciated the gesture.</p><p>“I can tell you aren’t listening.”</p><p>“I totally am. The French fancy pants were being stupid and starving the massive amount of people who outnumbered them.”</p><p>“Does the fancy pants have a name?”</p><p>Clarke paused. “Louis?”</p><p>Well sighed, but it was more of a laugh so Clarke knew she wasn’t in trouble. “Is there something else you want to do?”</p><p>Clarke wanted to see Bellamy but she wasn’t able to say that when Wells was taking time to visit her. She tried not to take it personally that he had only been there once. It was when she was still a little out of it. She remembered sleeping most of the time but whenever she awoke he had been there. However, when her mom cleared her to see more people he had disappeared. He would still answer whenever she texted him so she wasn’t completely panicking. Even if the texts were short and not at all sweet.</p><p>“I won’t be offended if you say you want your boyfriend here.”</p><p>“Is he still my boyfriend?” She teared up at the thought of the answer being no.</p><p>“Clarke,” said Wells softly as he joined her on the bed. She rested her head under his chin. “Even though he didn’t show it I’m sure he was more upset than Charlotte about your stunt. He wouldn't have felt like that if he didn't want to stay your boyfriend.”</p><p>“That’s what worries me. I don’t want him blaming himself for everything. The elders cleared him but I know he can take all that guilt onto himself.”</p><p>Before Wells could answer there was a knock on the open door. That was odd, after the first few days her friends had stopped tiptoeing around her and would just walk in. She turned toward the door. There was a man she didn’t recognize standing in the doorway. He was rather tall with dark her. His eyes seemed familiar to her.</p><p>“Hello, Clarke.”</p><p>She knew that voice. “Roan!”</p><p>He smiled, it soften his long features into something a bit friendlier.</p><p>“May I come in?”</p><p>“Of course.” She sat up on the bed. Wells squeezed her shoulder as he got off the bed. He made an 'I'm watching you’ gesture to Roan before leaving the room.</p><p>“I’m glad you aren’t a not-cat anymore. I was worried when no one was talking about you.”</p><p>“Ah yes.” Roan sat in the seat Wells had vacated. “Your little sister is less keen on me now that I am not small and fuzzy.”</p><p>He seemed to brush it off but Clarke wondered if it bothered him a bit. After all, he had taken quickly to both Charlotte and Octavia. She wondered if they had reminded him of his own little sister.</p><p>“But she is safe, as are you, that’s all that matters.”</p><p>“Thanks Roan, but I want you to be happy to.”</p><p>“I am content which is more than I have been for centuries.” He paused as if the next thing would be hard to say. Clarke waited without a word. “Your elders helped unbind Echo from Lexa. They had journeyed to whatever lays beyond. I believe Lexa made the trip long ago but now her body is at rest. I’m glad my sisters can be at peace.”</p><p>Clarke moved out of bed to hug him. He tensed for a moment but before she could question her move he hugged her back. “I don’t know how my parents will feel about it but I am sure they would welcome you to stay here for as long as you need. You helped us a great deal on Halloween. It’s the least we can do.”</p><p>“Thank you Clarke. Your parents made a similar offer. In fact, I am wearing your father’s clothes.”</p><p>Clarke pulled back. “You would be tall enough for it to maybe actually fit.”</p><p>“We are of a similar height.” He studied her face. “This may be odd but I do wish to thank you for dealing with my mother. You sacrificed a great deal to achieve it.”</p><p>“I came back so it wasn’t that much a sacrifice.”</p><p>“Yes, but you didn’t know that you could. You thought that your life would end. You didn’t know that you would be travel to a different state of being.”</p><p>The exact feeling had faded but she was sure she would always remember some part of the odd floating warmth. “Still…”</p><p>“Take the thanks, Clarke.”</p><p>She smiled, “Fine.”</p><p>“Good.” He smiled back. “Now do I need to hunt down a dishonorable cad?”</p><p>“Isn’t that a bit of an oxymoron?”</p><p>“The offer stands.”</p><p>“No, and he isn’t remotely a cad.”</p><p>“He still lit the candle.”</p><p>“He didn’t know it was real. It’s not fair to blame him for such a thing. Anyways that still isn’t cad behavior.”</p><p>“He professed he cared for you yet I haven’t seen him in this house since the second night.”</p><p>She blushed. “How do you know what he did or didn’t profess?”</p><p>“Despite my protests, I did have the senses of a cat. I could easily hear the two of in the hall.”</p><p>She could feel her cheek flush. Sure enough, when she pressed her hands against them they were warm. She sat down on the bed.</p><p>“It wasn’t anything terrible embarrassing. I have heard, and seen, far worse in the woods.”</p><p>“That’s not helpful.”</p><p>A near smirk spread across his face and she wondered if he was going to tease her. “A new friend has arrived, I shall take my leave.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Truly Clarke, thank you.”</p><p>She just nodded, trying to cool down her cheeks. Whoever it was she didn’t want them asking or teasing about her flush.</p><p>“Clarke.”</p><p>It was the one voice she had longed to hear all week. She stood a little too fast. A wave of dizziness passed over her. Before she could so much as sway strong arms steadied her. She looked up at Bellamy.</p><p>“Sorry,” he whispered.</p><p>“Don’t be, I’m glad you are here. I missed you.”</p><p>Guilt flashed over his face, which was the last thing Clarke wanted. She wrapped her arms tight around him. He was shorter than her dad or Roan but that just made him the perfect height to tuck her face into his neck. He stuttered once before holding her. One hand cradled her head against him.</p><p>“I still want to say sorry for everything that happened. I’m sorry my actions, even unintended actions, lead to you having to deal with Nia.”</p><p>The words sounded a little stiff, but Clarke didn’t care. She knew what he needed to hear and what she wanted to say. “I forgive you, you’re forgiven.”</p><p>“Clarke…” He pressed a kiss against her hair. “I’m sorry I haven’t been visiting you. After I was sure you were on the mend, I had to take care of a few things before I saw you again.”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“Like getting my witchness sorted. As well as my…guilt.”</p><p>“Bellamy…”</p><p>“I know but please hear me out.”</p><p>“Of course.” She started to pull away but he stopped her.</p><p>“Don’t. Please. Please stay like this. It’s a bit easier to talk about.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“I couldn’t look at you, or your parents or Charlotte without feeling awful. You were okay but we didn’t know that. You, we, thought that fire would be the end of you. I couldn’t stand that you would have done that cause I had lit the black flame. Your dad was the one who noticed first. He had me talk to Dr. Green.”</p><p>“Monty’s Dad?”</p><p>“Yeah, Your Dad said I should talk to him, well he basically demanded it. I was in no position to say no. And he was right. I still have a shit ton of stuff to work through but Dr.Green helped me see some things. Still wanting to be with you isn’t selfish. It’s okay. I should let you decide if you still want to see me.”</p><p>“I do want to be with you, that hasn’t change. Halloween was just a giant shitshow of epic proportions.”</p><p>He laughed at that. “Yeah, it was.”</p><p>This time when she pulled back he didn’t stop her. “If we made it through that we can make it through just about anything.”</p><p>“Yeah…” He tucked her hair behind her ear.</p><p>“I’m glad you talked to Dr. Green.”</p><p>“It was nice. I might do it again…” He sounded doubtful and Clarke didn’t want to push the issue. She knew how hard to ask for help, especially for someone like Bellamy. This was something he would have to figure out on his own.</p><p>Instead, she tilted her chin. Bellamy took the hint. He brushed his lips against her. The pressure was softer than she would have liked but considering a few an hour ago she doubted she would see him again she let him set the pace. He pulled away before she wanted the kiss to end too. However, he start to press kissed along her face so she couldn’t complain. They had plenty of time for all sorts of kisses later. Right now she enjoyed the soft sweetness of his touch.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun writing this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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